HCS Board Meeting 6/17/21

001[Music] do [Music] uh so like to call the meeting to order please mrs ford will you call the roll here here mrs jones here mr perez here mrs robinson here mr smith here mrs sermon here superintendent dr johnson here all right i have the following requests to amend the agenda let me read these to you and you can follow along here under roman numeral number nine the consent agenda have a request to add item nine d five which would be insurance contract renewals for cigna blue cross and tennessee risk management trust under roman numeral 9 d3 budget amendments add roman numeral 9 d 3 d as in dog that would be state grant for learning camps transportation then under roman numeral 10 which would be administrative business matters ad b deputy superintendent dr nakia townes

002musical instrument sanitation and repair budget request and then under board matters which is roman numeral 11 a 1 a student security officers add the following statement to the memo in addition we are requesting approval to continue the recruitment and hiring of up to 25 ssos pending approval of additional funding from the county commission any addition to the existing budget would be presented to the board through quarterly budget amendments and then also under our delegations roman numeral 7 we have a request from these folks to make an appearance before the board um you have those listed with these editions dr steve highlander miss lynae taylor and mr jeremy dixon do i have a motion to approve so moved second mr chairman yes sir quick question and it may be here and i i just don't see

003it but i got a call this afternoon uh there was a field trip request for hixson middle school and maybe it's here and i just missed it but i just want to make sure that that don't get overlooked under field trips okay we get to uh that should be under consent okay we get to consent we can take a look at that mr smith all right i think we're ready miss ford seal yes mrs jones yes mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs sermon yes chairman wingate yes next we'll have our meditation and pledge to the flag brought to us by dr sonja rich who's coordinator of the hamilton county collegiate high school at chattanooga state dr rich good evening chairman wingate dr johnson and the board thank you several years ago

004i got a list of when which principal was going to do which meditation and my calendar didn't go out that far and miss ford called me last month and here we are and thank you very much i would like to just reflect a little bit on the leadership retreat that we had last week and it made me think about how resilient education is because we have been remote and in and out of school for a year and three months but when the principals got together last week it was as if we had just seen each other last month and it was amazing and i appreciate the opportunity to be with colleagues and peers again another thing i thought about was how flexible education is our students have zoomed been in school been out of school

005uploaded downloaded and did all these things that we've talked about in education for at least i don't want to date myself for 35 years of how we could move education from teachers being in the middle of the classroom to facilitators and we actually did that in just the turn of a dime and so i hope that as we move forward we can learn from these opportunities i think teachers i don't want to take away from the importance of teachers in the classroom because we have missed that this year but also to know that we've learned many lessons that we've only talked about for years and so i hope that we can take advantage of those opportunities and uh move forward combining both of them and it made me think about um how um excited that

006i know i am and and my colleagues are about next year uh we're already planning for next year and how exciting it will be to have our students back in the classroom and it made me think about a quote from the novel the count of monte cristo by an andre dumas and it suggested in the novel that life is a storm you will bask in the sunlight one moment be shattered on the rocks the next but what matters most is what we've what we learned from the storm so i believe our work is just beginning this next year as we come out of the pandemic hopefully and are back in the classroom with our students thank you so at this time if you would stand for the pledge to the flag i pledge allegiance to

007the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you thank you dr rich that brings us to our exemplars of excellence we will start out with a recognition of our grow your own tyner academy and lipscomb graduates miss penny murray [Music] hi dr johnson chairman wingate and members of the board we're so excited to bring to you six of our grow your own candidates tonight and i'm gonna ask aaron harrell and aaron glenn for my team to come up because they're going to recognize each group and so the first group are three grow your own candidates from tyner academy they have all been awarded scholarships for utc and once they complete their program at utc they'll

008all be employed with us as teachers and then the other [Applause] [Music] and then the other three candidates are enrolled in lipscomb and they will be graduating in august so as we call your name i have certificates for you on behalf of principal gerald harris it is my pleasure to present three students from the utc future ready institute of teaching and learning at tyner academy jasmine jackson macaria hudson and jakiria sparks were awarded the grow your own scholarship as a comprehensive financial package to pay for all expenses of their undergraduate degree these ladies will begin coursework at the university of tennessee at chattanooga as education majors this fall jasmine has aspirations to become a school counselor makaria is interested in becoming an elementary school teacher and jakiria a middle school teacher it is our hope

009that they will begin their professional career right here in hamilton county schools and should they choose to do so they've been promised a position within the district as we continue to grow our own congratulations ladies [Applause] good evening on behalf of hamilton county schools i am thrilled to present to you three of hamilton county's grow your own candidates from the lipscomb program this was our first year piloting this program and these three teachers here are math teachers with hamilton county schools so and a bit of background about them at mr whiteside here was a behavior management specialist with hamilton county before joining the grow your own program ms miller was a permanent substitute at east brainerd elementary and miss gavin was an educational assistant so mr whiteside begins his career in math at work at

010dalewood middle school miss miller will start her first year in the classroom this fall at orchard now middle school and miss gavin now boozer gavin is a high school math teacher at uttawa high school and they just finished their course work through lipscomb this past spring and all four of them decided to continue on and pursue their masters through lipscomb university so we're thrilled for them congratulations [Applause] next we will have a recognition of our school nutrition team by dr justin robertson thank you chairman onegate as everybody is well aware uh for the past 15 months our school nutrition team has served heroically they they pivoted multiple times to ensure that our kids were being fed as you know we have a large number of students in hamilton county that are food insecure and our

011school nutrition team did an outstanding job to make sure that we were providing curbside pickup deliveries in school options out of school options weekday options weekend options and throughout the past calendar year a pretty outstanding number the school nutrition team has served over 3.1 million individual mills which is a pretty outstanding number none of this would have been possible without the director of school nutrition kristin nash she is an outstanding leader in hamilton county and someone that often does her work behind the scenes and doesn't get a lot of recognition i was teasing with her as i walked in i was like i hope you have your speech prepared i don't know that she'll say anything but i do want her to stand up and and come be recognized and just make sure that everybody

012has a face with school nutrition kristin knoss does does an outstanding job and alongside no hungry ten kid in tennessee who were going around the state recognizing school nutrition departments in the the month of may and june we want to take this time to say thank you to kristin and thank you to our school nutrition team i'll just say i'm incredibly proud of the work that they've done this year a lot of people don't realize that our school nutrition teams were some of the few staff members still reporting to work every single day even when the rest of the staff and the students were learning from home so they put their hearts into this year into our students and i couldn't be prouder so i know that they're very appreciative of the recognition so thank

013you justin can i tell her i went and volunteered at hixon high school when we were giving all those meals and i felt like lucille bald with the chocolate you know the amount of work you guys did was incredible and i really appreciate it i will say too kristen i know many of us had the opportunity to go to schools and be around while some of those meals were still getting delivered and it was pretty amazing to watch the dedication of a lot of those workers as they were packing breakfast and lunch for those kids every day so thank you very much all right next we'll have recognition of our school reopening task force miss jennifer bronson thank you dr johnson chairman wingate members of the board it is my pleasure to recognize our school

014reopening task force for their outstanding service during the 2020-2021 school year as you know as some of you served on the reopening task force the group met for the first time more than a year ago and convened regularly at least monthly sometimes weekly on very short notice for over a year this group provided very very very valuable insight feedback and perspective to our district leaders with regard to our continuous learning plan they approach their work as task force members with care seriousness and bravery if not for their tireless dedication to reopening our schools we would not have remained on campus for in-person learning for nearly 90 percent of the school year so at this time i'm going to invite our school reopening task force members to step forward um introduce themselves in the constituency that

015they represent so if they're a parent if they're a teacher if they're a school leader and then if they want to say a few words and i have a certificate to recognize their service some of these folks i'm meeting in person for the first time this evening i guess since i talk on this all the time jeanette o'markel hamilton county education association representing educators and children it's nice to see everybody in person for the first time um tanya martin i have children at brown middle school and then i have two that split the day between central high school and harrison bay future ready hey bill brooks uh co-chair thank you thank you hi christy carroll highfill i'm a parent in the hamilton county school district with three kids who were in elementary middle and one

016who just graduated from high school marisa moyers i am the new manager of school health but i started out with this as the league covenant nurse for the call center shane horwood principal at sigma mountain middle high school and just a big public thank you to dr johnson jim bronson and just our whole district team because it truly is amazing what we accomplished this year to have kids in class learning each and every day in the middle of a pandemic so just thank you all for your support so i was going to say please join me in congratulating the school reopening task force members for their leadership i will say too uh i can't imagine the job you all were faced with this year i know what we had to deal with on daily and

017weekly basis and many many many times felt like a no win and so thank you very much again for what you all were able to help our community accomplish this year so thank you very much all right that brings us to um our presentation here uh from miss jennifer bronson on our edconnect chairman i'll introduce this uh you know one of the challenges of the pandemic was connectivity for our students uh sure many times we we uh school nutrition phenomenal job and serving meals and we kind of checked that box uh you all had approved prior to students in grades 6 through 12 have access to chromebooks and then we hurried to deploy to students in grades three through five who did not have access and so we kind of checked that box our teachers

018did a phenomenal job of pivoting and really trying to determine how they would teach in a virtual space last march and and so we checked that box the box that we left unchecked uh was that uh students would get home with the devices and maybe have a meal and have a teacher ready uh but they couldn't connect and so we were fortunate uh that uh we're for we are fortunate to be in a community where uh collaboration is a part of the fabric of uh who we are and uh and and so excited to have rachel uh iman from from our team as well as jeff milner from the enterprise center and evan freeman from epb to provide you with a bull as a board with an update on the year one of the hsa

019connect project so rachel will turn to you all right thank you dr johnson he did the hard part for me there with painting the picture of the pandemic for you so i'll go ahead and move on to our next slide here let's see i'll let justin do the operations piece thank you all right so uh here's our number slide um we've connected over 14 000 students to high speed internet at no charge in the first year of the program running that's very exciting for us it's over one-third of all of our students and including their families represents more than 25 000 individuals some notable things about this first of all this program is available to every single economically disadvantaged family in the district and it's notable because during the pandemic this meant that students could

020learn safely from home when the places that they might normally get free internet from like a public library or a rec center were shut down past pandemic this is still incredibly meaningful it means that our educators don't have to worry about students having access to the internet or a device right so we're one-to-one and now we are providing free internet for any student that needs it and that means that educators have greatly expanded the type of educational experience that they can provide their families just as some examples of some educational but outside the classroom things that this allowed our families to do this year we had students who were researching new interests because they had high-speed internet with no data caps which even if they had internet before this type of internet was new for

021them we had students who were using educational programs like khan academy that they'd never had access to at home before because they didn't have internet we had esl families accessing free language learn english landing language learning programs online at home after school hours these are things that you know during the pandemic were helpful but even after the pandemic will mean that they've had a higher quality education than they did beforehand our educators have been able to connect with families personally in a way that they've never been able to before and you'll hear jeff talk about effectively eliminating the homework gap through this program as well our families were able to search for jobs and work online they were able to access virtual healthcare called telehealth so we had a family who instead of having to

022drive two hours to go to vanderbilt for consultation with a doctor they were able to do that here at home they live in utah that's pretty incredible and we had parents who were able to take online high set courses and complete college courses this year as well as you all know this is a rural suburban and urban issue so we've had an overall connection rate of about 40 percent throughout the county um and in each district our installations that occurred uh were proportional to the need there so that means that the number of students that we were able to connect in each district align proportionally with the number of students who we knew had that need there really wasn't one school board district that we had like a higher proportion of it all it was

023really similar across the board which was exciting for us because we knew that we wanted to attack this problem equity you know equitably across the board this is sunny burden some of you may remember her from our state of the system this year she shared her story during dr johnson's state of the system address she spoke about this program as a game changer for her family it brought her peace of mind to know that her students had access to the internet and that she didn't have this bill on her plate anymore during a pandemic that was something that we were really proud to be able to do for her to bring her a little bit more peace that was great but also knowing that her students were able to connect was ultimately the goal you'll

024see if you take a look at your district reports that we've got stories like this in every single school in the county at this point last but not least before i turn things over to jeff this is really a national issue this issue of internet connection and internet access is not hamilton county's story and this program is just the way that we responded to a national issue in a way that was completely different than any other city in the country really so jeff will tell you a little bit more about that but we made a commitment this team made a commitment to making sure that affordability didn't matter we had the infrastructure in place and as a result of this program our students and their families will benefit from generational progress so jeff take it

025away and i'm sorry for giving you a heart attack that you thought i wasn't here um first of all just thank you all for giving us the opportunity to to go through this with you today um but most especially for your leadership and the support in making this work possible um as uh our president of the enterprise center um deb socia has worked with communities across the country around issues of digital access and and equity and as she has said again and again there is no community doing what we're doing um over this past year where others were forced to deploy short-term very expensive solutions chattanooga thanks to the visionary leadership here at hamilton county schools at epb from our funders from our community partners i'm committed to closing the digital divide in the long

026term for at least the next decade and and beyond um not only have we been able to offer that long-term solution again setting us apart from so many other communities um access for every economically disadvantaged family and student in hamilton county schools but one that offers equity most offerings come with a maximum speed epb offers a minimum and a minimum of 100 megabits symmetrical that's uploading download speeds um that are the same many times faster than other educational and especially the low-cost offerings that others have been forced to deploy um this means that households with more than one child with parents who are working at home didn't have to worry about data didn't have to worry about who was going to do their homework when everyone could work together it served the whole family and

027while 98 of all eligible students do live within epb's footprint all means all and we wanted to make sure there was a solution we could deploy across the board as we look for longer term solutions this means folks who can't receive epb because they're outside of their legal footprint receive a hot spot with a service provider with good service in their area unlimited data so that same thing applies not worrying about who's doing homework and when but everybody can get it done together um you know for leaders across the country from non-profits cities from to the federal government to the press this is seen as a national model it's a testament to the leadership in this community in hamilton county and it is making a 21st century education available to every student here as communities

028reached out to us to ask how is this possible how did we do it we got to tell a story that so often gets told in this community there was a big community challenge we came together to figure out a way to solve it together we didn't think about the reasons not to do something we figured out how to get around those barriers break through those walls when it comes to big challenges this is a community that can solve them so in addition to hamilton county schools considerable financial commitment the initiative has received support from public private and corporate partners including um the hamilton county government the city of chattanooga epb the state of tennessee and the tennessee department of human services through the cares act um through a grant that the enterprise center received

029and put into this project from blue cross blue shield of tennessee from the smart city venture fund which includes a lot of philanthropic partners the footprint foundation community foundation of greater chattanooga benwood and the mcclellan foundation it's received support from private donors to a substantial degree as well and i should say that the benwood foundation provided some additional support for the implementation team to make sure that we could actually reach everybody and you know as is so often true this was more than writing a check for these partners as well they've been true partners in the work and making sure that this work happened and something else that separates us a bit from other communities is because we are working with a partner like epb this investment in our community stays in our community in

030more ways than one these are dollars that are being vested locally which is again sets us apart um the other answer is to how we did it is thanks to an incredible team a team that always puts families first um nothing would be possible certainly without the leadership here without dr johnson um nor david wade the team at epp um and and debsocia my colleagues at the enterprise center who formed part of our our implementation team um in particular to other folks one you've just heard from one you'll hear from in a second uh evan and rachel have been absolutely essential and dedicated more time than you could possibly imagine to this project at odd hours of every night for the last 15 months there are also part of the central office team here folks

031like beckham a lot in the data team michelle bettis who's personally driven hot spots around this county um tracked down families who needed access and done it um epb engineers ryan kiel's team and then especially to kathy burns angela henry the call center team you know these edconnect customers our customers they are treated um the same way everybody else who calls in and same goes for those who call into their schools looking for hot spots um this isn't a low-cost plan with a lower tier of customer everyone's treated with that respect and and that's thanks to an incredible customer service team and that gets to the main point you know this program has been designed putting families first uh knowing we're doing something big and and difficult for the very first time that any community

032had ever tried to do it um i think we also built with humility we built with constant and ongoing evaluation to ensure the program actually met the needs of the folks who needed it um you know around our opt-in process we wanted to ensure that a family getting connected didn't hinge on an email they missed a phone call they weren't at home for so families could always reach out to their child's school directly talk to someone they trusted and knew and got connected that way even as we did lots and lots and lots of other outreach once folks opted in all they needed to do was contact epb they got reminders about installations regularly and again if issues came up they could call the call center they were treated just like every other customer and

033now they have the opportunity to connect at unrivaled speeds um i've said all means all a couple of times or at least i meant to um you know we know that this initiative isn't complete until we reach that last most difficult student to connect and when we're talking about folks who don't have access it's a substantial challenge and it's been a substantial challenge um when we consider the social distancing their inability to get to folks over the past year but nonetheless 14 000 students connected to make sure that this all means all actually happened we did things like build a proprietary status tracking platform something that made sure that epb's data hamilton county's data could meet in the middle that we dropped no students from that that we were able to use geographic and demographic

034filtering to identify in real time whether there were places that weren't receiving the service they needed whether there were schools that needed some additional help from our team to do that outreach we partnered with utc's itg lab um to do real-time uh data visualization and mapping again making sure all really meant all and we reached out to the other communities around the country who were doing this work to share best practices to make sure there wasn't something as confident as we were in our plan that we were missing finally another thing that we put in place um knowing that this was a big hairy goal um was ensuring that there was expanded public wi-fi access um you know we know it can never meet the complete needs of a 21st century education but making sure

035that there was always a safety net in place in every district around the community and in fact we have seen a lot of community use particularly in locations like our housing authority sites coin laundries parks churches so it's continued to meet a need at a rate of more than 10 000 user sessions a month with that i will turn it over to my colleague evan from epb to talk a little bit about sustainability good evening everyone and and thank you schoolwork members for allowing us to to address and councilman hill who who good to see all the time and dr johnson thanks for for uh your the opportunity to hear to speak we really just wanted to reiterate what jeff and rachel had talked about just how big of an impact this is and and

036how your investments really really changed the lives of these families and the students um a year ago a little over a year ago as we're discussing this dr johnson reached out to epb about the the you know students going home and there's a disparity between students that are able to access online schools and and those that aren't and and how we're going to solve that and pretty quickly as we worked with our community partners that the thought was well we need something you know not just for the pandemic but was something long-term and meaningful and impactful that we could do so this this solution was a 10-year 10-year commitment at least a 10-year commitment that would provide in-home fast internet access to families and if you look around the country and see what other other

037cities are doing they're spilling in spending millions and millions and millions of dollars on short-term less reliable solutions you know wi-fi hot spots and and things of that nature that just are really expensive and really have a shelf life and this is something that will follow the families no matter where they live in our service territory as they move from from place to place this is something they can use again i just wanted to to tell you how critical your investment is in how it covered the upfront costs to connect and get the equipment into the homes of the families a lot of those families have never had fiber internet access to their homes so building out that infrastructure also it helped build the fiber network to chattanooga public housing units that that really didn't

038have that network in place it allowed us to work with a lot of local and corporate apartment complexes particularly those that that have subsidized housing that didn't have adequate access and and so working with those complexes to be able to get into there and and serve the families and and again as families move this is this is something that follows the family so families as long as they're in our service territory don't have to worry about if i move down the street where i'm going to be able to to keep my service this is something that's going to be consistent for at least the next 10 years for those families that qualify again we're confident that this funding that you all helped uh provide it is adequate for at least the next 10 years and

039we really appreciate your input and the the impact that you've had on these families i'll turn it back to jeff thanks and so as we close out with some next steps and it has been my privilege in my career in chattanooga to work alongside so many educators in this school system and i know the commitment that they make to serving the whole child and i think this gets to that as well because the program benefits whole families it's enough access for for everyone parents can work learn from home use telehealth we've given examples of that other services be more actively involved in their child's school and education without having to worry about barriers like transportation the hours they work it offers a lot of opportunities in that regard with remote work opportunities and new certifications

040and it's like this the economic benefit of being able to access those the potential economic benefits for our school communities because families are more stable because new career opportunities are open for their students we know the the impact here has been more than a single bill taken off the plate of our our economically disadvantaged families although we know as well over this past year that alone has been a lifeline we've heard from families that it's meant groceries um that it's meant being able to not choose between what they can do for their kids but because we are the first to do this we also felt it essential to study the impact as we built in these protocols along the way to make sure we're constantly evaluating the work that goes into this research as well

041we're working with two internationally known ed tech researchers out of boston college as well as a local advisory board to look at this project and how it has an impact on students and families in education and beyond answer questions like how does learning extend beyond the classroom how does it change what it means to be a teacher how does it change access to career opportunities to health to financial outcomes and change so much research on the digital divide stems from what is lost when students don't have access in hamilton county we are going to be able to tell a different story what is instead gained when we are able to provide this access as this last year has has illustrated the digital divide can have a devastating impact um we've we deployed a solution that

042met acute needs over that um time period but we've done so with our eyes on the future creating a brighter one for every student in hamilton county the first community to effectively end the homework gap it is an incredible accomplishment something that we will continue to work on and and make better but truly thanks to a community coming together so it's been my privilege to play just a very small role in that work and something so important um again we thank you for your support and are happy to answer any questions that you might have if you guys have a question if you don't mind just set your cup there up on the top that way i'll know so what i what i need for you to do now is create some technology here that

043gets our lights back i'll put that right below this on the list yes thank you it's it's equally as important yeah mrs hill this is classy with a k i'd say um i am so thankful to live in hamilton county where we have people that work together on really hard problems like this one and what our community has been able to accomplish with hcsa connect is remarkable the fact that it will last for 10 years that families are not disconnected over the summer that we realized as employers in the public and private sector and educators and people all at the same time that internet was really important it's not just about netflix it's about actual how living our lives and and that we got past all the hard why you can't and just focused on

044the how can we and i'm also very thankful that that is becoming the culture that i am seeing in hamilton county schools and in hamilton county at large and just a matter of privilege i want to share with you guys from the meeting today with commissioner penny schwinn so i was able to be there and it was humbling to see people in leadership roles our senator beau watson representative hazelwood representative smith leaders from our business community all around the table talking about our kids our students and how we're going to help them be ready for what's next for them and you know commissioner swin asked us how how do you set up successful partnerships and this hcs at connect is one of the premier examples of that kind of partnership and i left that meeting

045so um buoyed and and i shared this on my social media because i i thought it was so important she finished that meeting and said that what we're doing in chattanooga and hamilton county is important not just for our students but for students all across the state and in fact for students across the entire nation because the nation is looking at hamilton county schools and looking at how our students have tripled the number of early post-secondary courses that they that they earned from this year to last year tripled in a in a pandemic when we want to talk about academics which is what this board is here to talk about that's a heck of a win and a big part of why that was possible was because of work like this with hcs edconnect so

046i thank you all very much for for the way that you did that heavy lift and i will say sometimes um as a as a board member i sometimes feel um a little bit out of the loop on on the early stages of things so i definitely would invite dr johnson your team to loop us in as early as possible there are so many really amazing things happening in our community for the benefit of our students and we obviously play an integral role in that so thank you very much mr perez i just want to reiterate the same thing uh jeff to the team of the enterprise center to epb to dr johnson and the hamilton county team here because i know what we've repeated it and yet i think it can be missed that

047what we've done is truly unique probably nationally i would not be surprised that there isn't another community that uh was able to respond in the way that we responded and allowing every one of their students to be very quickly connected if there was great you know the more the more the better uh but it's it's uh just truly you know in a year of unprecedented uh responses to to an unprecedented event uh we were also unprecedented in this and uh and i want to thank you i know that uh figuring it out and problem solving was was huge um and i i really uh you know it's it's easy to miss how blessed we've been in spite of all the difficulties this year often because we are not aware of of the difficulties that other

048cities and counties had to had to deal with in trying to connect students online and that this isn't perfect and there's a lot to learn and there's still a digital literacy divide and there's still a digital homework divide um that that has to be worked on and and and improved on uh but the fact that we were able to connect and it's again it's not just connecting it's not just making internet available it's making a router available it's connecting that router to these 14 000 students homes it's helping families learn how to connect to that router it's uh taking phone calls when the one we all know when the router's down we don't know what to do um it's all these things to 14 000 students and everybody else that that was already uh being

049served and so um i don't think we can miss that this didn't happen in a vacuum where all of a sudden internet was made available it happened because of the tireless uh hours spent by incredible teams on multiple sides saying we've got to solve this and and by funding partners because we can't dismiss them who also stepped up and said we're providing this and again reiterating the fact that this isn't for hey we we got through covets these families will now have access to this for 10 years and hopefully beyond moving forward so thank you very much thank you to everybody uh who participated in that mrs thurman there's only one group of people that are not glad you did this and that those kids that were using this excuse not to do their work

050a lot of parents call me and thanked me the router is down rhonda but anyway i do appreciate a lot of those families repping from up in my district up in district one and i really really appreciate the work that you've done but a lot of parents are very appreciative like i said some of their kids not so much but but i am certainly thankful i do appreciate all your hard work absolutely thank you anyone else thank you again for all your work and your effort and uh the whole team it really was amazing uh i've told my kids there no more snow days now either now you've got a bunch of folks mad at me i appreciate it sincerely thank you all very much for your time yeah thank you all right that now

051brings us to our delegations and i'm going to take just a little bit of executive privilege here if you guys don't mind and uh i'm gonna let dr steve highlander kind of jump line here and and let him go first but before we do because dr highlander i'm quite certain you need to hear this i'm gonna go ahead and read this delegation statement before we get started this isn't your moment thank you for your interest in addressing the hamilton county board of education during your presentation please address the board as a whole not individual board members or administrators also do not present complaints or concerns you have about an individual employee of the school system if you wish to voice those complaints and concerns you should contact the district office and ask for a meeting

052with the superintendent if you are criticizing an individual employee i will interrupt you and ask you to refrain if you continue to criticize individual employees or if your remarks are in error or becoming repetitive i may interrupt you and ask you to sit down please limit your remarks to five minutes i will tell you when you have one minute left you may begin when you are ready dr highlander you have the mic the most difficult thing for me is the five minute limit i will say to you i love every one of you as younger brothers and sisters joe just a little bit younger but but i do you know my siblings and i didn't always agree we fussed sometimes but we truly loved each other and we still do and i love each and

053every one of you and i want to do what i can i see without mrs ford i would never have had any technology maybe you all are good at it she kept me going if she hadn't if it hadn't been for her i would have been without it uh one thing i will say to the public although we have different perspectives we have different views each and every one of the board members that i've served with the ones presently and i look back to go joe galloway and my brother little man that i love so many people all of these people care about children and serve and and that's what makes us brothers and sisters and my friend jeffrey wilson i attended the last meeting that he had and uh dr johnson with with her

054i'm i would like to do what he did in his closing he gave a closing prayer and may i give a prayer for this board in this leadership team dear father we thank you for each and every one of these people who care about young people who care about children lord give them your strength give them your wisdom lord thank you so much for the blessings of being able to work with young people thank you for my 40 some odd years in the classroom and thank you for the opportunity to serve others these things we ask in our lord's name amen thank you all so much dr highlander just stay right there dr highlander i want to sincerely thank you uh for your service i know you you cast the fifth vote uh for me

055and i i appreciate uh your your your willingness to do that i don't know if you always appreciate it but uh but and i will say this i'm gonna uh more frequently attend county commission meetings uh looking for eggs and sausage uh that you bring but we'll absolutely miss you uh i will say i had not planned necessarily planned i had several constituents to ask me training the resume when i didn't get it on the first go around my wife said you disappointed said no i'm happy to serve on the school board and then the second round came and somebody else had a plan above mine dr steve highlander an appreciation for your commitment service to the hamilton county board of education from september 2014 to june 2021 we want to present this to you

056from dr brian johnson for myself mr tucker mcclendon jenny hill karitza jones marco perez tiffany robinson joe smith and miss rhonda thurman thank you for your service sir thank you i don't want to miss an opportunity steve don't worry um joe will keep sherry busy joe smith dr highlander before you leave i also want to thank you personally i i think you uh people don't know the encouragement that you give i'm new to the board and you have continuously been an encouragement to me uh you're a true pastor and and you've pastored our board in many ways thank you that's what i was fishing for thank you thanks jake go ahead mr thank you steve appreciate you buddy all right that will bring us to mr frank ramseur did i say that correctly yes sir

057uh we do count it an honor to present here just for a moment and maybe a special providential blessing to follow dr highlander there dr johnson um chairman wingate and count hamilton county school board members um i'm frank ramster one of the leaders of calvary chapel chattanooga i'm here today with several friends two dear colleagues you'll hear from anne roth in just a moment i do want to begin by making it all together clear that what our intention is here today and what our intention has been is nothing in any way sort of combative or you know confrontational we've not come in any combative spirit or posture we're here to make uh no demands we're here not to make any threats push any political agenda we have come simply to represent and give voice to

058i think a significant and growing number of citizens largely parents of school-aged children who are aware of planned parenthood sort of re-emergence in our city and as you'll hear momentarily i think are appropriately concerned and i think that'll be clear in just a moment it is our hope that after just our brief moment here you may be affirmed and confirmed that as it relates to sex education in our public schools tennessee state approved family life curriculum with its focus on abstinence and character development is clearly superior to anything planned parenthood can provide dr johnson the school school board we are simply here to respectfully and humbly convey that we are aware and we are concerned and to that end we started a petition which we'll read here briefly to sort of validate the broad and

059increasing support for what hamilton county schools currently provide by way of sex education to our children so with that i'm going to let ann roth share that share a few more things thank you as a former public school teacher here in hamilton county for 13 years working in four different schools throughout the area i have personally seen and known teachers guidance counselors and parents who work together to raise children of character we believe and support current tennessee school health law that teaches children how to have appropriate relationships and boundaries to teach students how to form pro-social habits that enable students to develop healthy relationships create strong marriages and form safe and stable future families research on teen pregnancies throughout our state shows that numbers are continuing to drop the teen birth rate in tennessee has

060declined 68 percent between 1991 and 2019 the teen pregnancy rate which includes all pregnancies rather than just those that resulted in a birth has also fallen steeply by 56 percent between 1988 and 2013. in hamilton county teen birth rates have also dropped across all racial groups between 2010 and 2016 we've seen a 34 decline so we're seeing numbers steadily declining which would only point to a success in the current family life curriculum that our schools are teaching planned parenthood has already hired a health educator here in chattanooga whose job summary and i quote to you is to conduct educational programs and related activities designed to provide the planned parenthood of tennessee service area with age-appropriate reproductive and sexual health information and skills one of their job responsibilities will be and i quote again to assess

061the suitability and develop a sustainable peer education program for high school youth in chattanooga according to the national sex education standards that planned parenthood uses for their programs children in grades 11 and 12 will be asked to describe the potential impacts of power and privilege within romantic or sexual relationships i.e age race ethnicity sexual orientation gender gender identity socioeconomic status immigration status and ability not only is this a direct implication of critical theory and intersectionality but it also puts teenagers at risk of playing into the supposed power struggles and assigning roles in a relationship of an oppressor and a victim only increasing the chances of emotional and sexual abuse so as taxpayers are asking you dr johnson the members of the school board to not allow planned parenthood to have any direct or indirect influence

062on the curriculum used by hamilton county schools teachers and guidance counselors are already impacting our students it is evident in the recent statistics of a decrease in teenage pregnancy we want to maintain our values and continue to put emphasis on families to educate their children in sexual health and allow parents to make the decisions for when it is time to have the more detailed conversations regarding gender and sexuality at home thank you very much we'll have brandy howard my name is brandi howard i have two students currently enrolled in hamilton county public schools they're both in high school they've been in public school their entire school careers and we are public school supporters i want to address the newly passed legislation hb 580 and sb620 prohibiting the teaching of a list of concepts and i

063believe you've probably already read that list but first i wanted to take a second and answer a question that was asked at the last meeting where have parents been before now why are we just now showing up at school board meetings i would say we've been classroom volunteers room parents team moms pto moms and dads we believed that our time was best spent doing those things while representatives and elected officials managed the running of our schools so we did what we thought was our part and trusted professionals to do theirs then our world changed of course when coveted hit we all became some version of homeschool teachers or facilitators like it or not while virtual school was less than ideal it required parents to be more engaged and aware of what's being taught in our

064schools unfortunately it wasn't always a good surprise what we saw for many of us it was a shock some people may say shame on us parents have been hands off as far as the content material being taught to our kids we thought they were being taught schools and facts skills and facts we were surprised to learn but sometimes maybe too often our students are being taught what to believe they're being taught to believe an opinion what they should think instead of consistently being taught how to evaluate data and develop their own conclusions parents across the country have realized that their children are being taught inappropriate sexual content not specifically in hamilton county yet thank goodness and let's let's continue that right students are taught anti-police anti-authority messages divisiveness and that our country and her systems

065are inherently bad that was my personal experience what a disappointment for a public school supporter so we now realize we have to be more engaged we know that our states pass legislation prohibiting the teaching of a list of concepts based on a critical theory framework and we have questions how will the existing materials and curricula including supplemental materials be evaluated to determine where these concepts are being taught and remove them will you invite parents to be involved in that process i've heard the quick response from local officials that this legislation won't affect hamilton county this stuff's not being taught here and it sounded dismissive almost as though it would be silly to even ask the question but i want to tell you why parents are asking if they haven't had personal experience like ours parents

066grandparents and concerned citizens have seen reports that hamilton county teachers go through white privilege training where messages include that white privilege is a legacy and a cause of racism white privilege exists because of historic enduring systemic racism and bias that message if taught to students would violate item number two of this new legislation we've seen classic texts replaced with books like just mercy written by a social justice activist the hate you give written by an activist and inspired by the black lives matter movement both texts violate items 8 10 and 11 in this bill an honest assessment must be done so now we have engaged parents newly passed bill questions about whether or not our district is in compliance and parents want a voice when making decisions about our schools we hear you talk about

067what's best for students a lot about what teachers will think we ask that you remember to consider what parents want for our children we entrust the schools with the education of our kids the parents rights don't stop at the school building doors parents still bear primary responsibility for the care well-being and education of our kids so let's set aside the automatic denials that this stuff doesn't happen instead let's put tools in place to identify and eliminate these flawed teachings work together in good faith to ensure our children are not taught that their future is somehow limited by their original circumstances or the um shade of their skin let's talk about hope unity opportunity teach our kids to work hard to achieve big dreams for their future for our community and for our country thank you

068thank you angie nunley see if i can do this again i am expanding on both of their topics on hb 580 to quote directly from the bill this amendment does not prohibit a public school from including as part of a course of instruction or in a curriculum or instructional program or from allowing teachers other employees of the lea or public charter school to use supplemental instructional materials that include one the history of an ethnic group as described in textbooks and instructional materials adopted in accordance with present law concerning textbooks and instructional materials two the impartial discussion of controversial aspects of history three the impartial instruction on the historical oppression of a particular group of people based on race ethnicity class nationality religion or geographic region and four historical documents that are presented under present law

069such as national motto national anthem the state and federal constitution's state and federal laws and supreme court decisions these are core to the crt program as ron desantis said you can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig these items are in direct opposition to what brandy said that is the first part of the bill whom decided who decides what is either impartial or appropriate the parents have not been included in this decision if anything the school board's response to covet has shown that teachers are allowed and possibly encouraged to pressure either the teas or their personal agenda in the classroom there are reports of teachers questioning students about their vaccination status and berating them to the point of bullying which other students picked up and carried forward throughout the halls during

070the day per the tea's website their mission is to protect and advocate for our students our profession and our members to create great public schools that prepare everyone for success in global society it continues by stating that tea's work quote centers around our core values democracy equal opportunity a just society strong profession partnerships advocacy and collaboration action democracy is stated as we believe that all voices should be heard and protected in the pursuit of the compromise and consensus essential to the common good again referring back to the prior example equal opportunity we believe that access to free quality public education is the gateway to equal opportunity in our society we want quality public education too let us help parents want to help we want to participate a just society necessary to respect the worth and

071dignity of every individual what about american beliefs why are these being attacked strong profession we believe that quality teacher preparation high professional standards and collaboration provide us with the expertise to educate children and protect our profession again let the parents work with you we want to partnerships working with both stakeholder and other entities who share our values are essential to promoting educational excellence excellence in tennessee we believe these partnerships add value to our association and the profession realizing that they have the potential to add new sources of learning strength and resources we'll come back to this who are the collaborative actions with who are the partners we deserve to have all of this information and a say in the level of involvement the partners have we deserve 100 transparency in this the tea has a

072link on their website titled racial and social justice for all including available resources they offer a petition to grow the movement for racial justice and in education including campaigns that require schools to offer ethics studies efforts to change school names honoring confederate leaders students and educators mobilizing to include voices in diverse ethnicities that have contributed to u.s history and cultures these leaders are part of the foundation of america why is there such an effort to erase history links to blm at school build power in your community according to the blm website they are quote trained marxist marxism creates division based on social classes this leads into socialism then communism children are not inherently racist don't create a problem where there isn't one in general parents are okay with sex ed being taught in high school

073never in elementary however i recommend that the school board looks within the community at places such as calvary church st augustine berks united methodist these are places that value the sanctity of life and the innocence of our children as public servants elected by parents you have a responsibility to share your stance on defining principles of educating our children thank you miss nunley next we'll have lenay taylor hi my name is lynnae glass i'm here representing moms for social justice my husband is a teacher which makes the topic i'd like to talk about all the more close to my heart i want to speak regarding the issue of including critical race theory in hamilton county's k-12 curriculum i'm in a privileged position i can walk away from the school board meeting knowing that the narrative that

074will be taught to my white children paints their ancestors as the heroes in our history books and absolves them of any responsibility towards the bipart communities that have been and continue to be marginalized in our nation my children don't have to worry about whether they will find affordable housing or be targeted by law enforcement based on the color of their skin the systems currently in place in our country work in their favor that said i believe it is the duty of my children's teachers to challenge their worldview and to ask them the hard questions even and especially if it means facing up to the ways they benefit from societal structures that are based on white supremacy we should value honesty right then why are we afraid of telling our children the truth about how we

075got to where we are now in our country if the motivation behind choosing what is included or excluded in curriculum is to reduce division then i believe it is in the best interest of our kids to shed light on the way systemic racism impacts their black and brown peers we cannot truly come together to create better systems and tear down oppressive power structures until we allow our children to see history and all of its complexity by inhibiting the teaching of critical race theory we are doing an incredible disservice not only to our children but also to our nation there are future policy makers currently sitting in your classrooms i know some of you are opposed to critical race theory based on religious reasons as someone who grew up in the evangelical christian church i urge

076you to consider whether you are truly loving your neighbors who you presumably believe to be made in the image of god if you are not prepared to come face to face with and grieve the whole truth about the way racism operates in our country if you are opposed to critical race theory being taught because your argument is that it is racist towards white people i ask that you really think about your definition of racism there are power imbalances at play in the united states that put white people at an advantage by pushing back against children being taught about these power imbalances you are indirectly perpetuating the harmful systems that put people of color at a disadvantage in our society choosing to teach kids colorblindness does not create unity it breeds inequity and lastly if the

077mantra you live by is faith over fear this is the time to demonstrate that through your actions by fighting against critical race theory being in schools you are not teaching our children to be critical thinkers when they encounter content that might be new and challenging for them you are teaching them that they are entitled to whatever narrative makes them and you most comfortable do not be fearful of the hard truths that our kids may learn as a result of thinking more deeply about how racism manifests itself and all its insidious forms in our country the truth is what sets us free thank you jeremy dixon [Applause] i'm with tennessee protective services pull this up we want to provide protection officers for the schools instead of having security guards the way that we have it is

078why secure something when you can protect the kids when you can protect the facility the teachers everybody in there it makes simple because the liability falls on us not the school system not the citizens we have the insurance we have the capabilities we have the training for everybody to be set up to be able to protect every school the way that it's supposed to be protected and protect the children that go to these schools our insurance is there we have we're able to have whatever we need our officers are all trained to handle anything that they need to handle so uh that's that's all i have for now thank you thank you all right that brings us uh down to our consent agenda before we um before i ask for a motion to approve that

079do we have anyone that needs to read the board member disclaimer statement if you do please do so at this time i will wait mr perez uh i declare that i have a spouse and uh sisters in law who work in the school systems and that the boards vote on anything having to do with policies or budgets or anything along those lines nothing particular that stands out in this uh in this agenda but may have an effect on my relatives employment even so i hereby certify that i will cast my vote in the best interest of the school system anyone else mrs thurman yes i have a relative who works in the school system but i i will promise to make my vote in the best and the best uh that's what i'm looking for

080guys and the best for the school district what's best for the school district um that's what uh i guess that's all i need to say thank you mrs robinson i declare that i have a family member who works for the school system and that the boards vote on pretty much everything they have an effect on my relatives employment even so i hereby certify that i will cast my vote in the best interest of the school system anyone else mrs jones i declare that i have a family member who works for the school system and that the board's vote on budget policies etc may have an effect on my relatives employment even so i hereby certify that i will cast my vote in the best interest of the school system all right so do i have

081a motion to approve the consent agenda do we have a second second did you get that miss ford yes sir okay we have any items we'd like to take a look at mrs thurman uh yes i just want to uh pull the uh nine f one just the math curriculum please okay and i i'd like to pull 9 d5 the insurance mr smith i think this is the appropriate place again i want to make sure that we don't um anyone else so we have mrs thurman's item mr perez's item do we have anything else all good okay mrs ford mrs hill yes mrs jones yes mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs sermon yes chairman wingate yes okay mr thurman okay uh yeah i just want while some of the parents are

082here uh some of the parents groups are here uh there is uh we're going to be looking at some math curriculum and some of you want to see some of the math like you say some parents saw what the math was especially elementary and middle the math what the math looked like including dr johnson saw what the math looked like so if you would like to uh have a say so about what the math curriculum looks like in elementary school this is something that parents can uh can get uh involved in as well uh i know i did back when my daughter was in the fifth grade she's now 32. um i met all over the all over the county trying to stop everyday math and uh connected math before i got on the school

083board to no avail that we we ended up getting rid of it a few years later this is better than that but it's not much better and i just wanted you to be aware that that is coming up so uh you can say that's exactly the reason i had to put my daughter in private school was because of the math we were using at the time she was here like i say this one's some better but it's not a whole lot so just parents groups heads up just wanted you to know just for clarity seconds for the this coming up year 21 22 the state will um it's an adoption year so we'll go through that process dr parker and her team will uh lead that they'll engage parents like they did not park you

084might want to briefly give some context around how you approach that so our state is in the process right now of revising the standards that are exp and the expectations for math k-12 and so what is on the board agenda tonight is to help us with the gap year next year so that we can go through the adoption process and not have lacking materials or no materials this is a year we're using esser funds to carry us through so that adoption can be can take place and the materials can align with the writing of the new standards yeah nearly just for a reference you were probably i don't know if you were in the school system then or not you were there and uh the elementary between the fifth grade and the uh the middle

085school uh got the kids got to middle school and found out that nobody had learned to divide or multiply fractions so here they were trying to learn algebra nobody had them so everybody was in a panic i don't know how that happened but there was a huge gap there and i just don't want things like that to happen again because it did happen and it was a disaster an absolute disaster and so you we were talking the other day about math changes well the curriculum changes and about the the britannica but still those botanicals you had still told you who won the world series in 1956 it didn't change they still math has not changed okay it's not like you have to update math and say oh well you have a new way well they

086did do it so we have a new way of doing it not any better because we didn't invent math we discovered it and so it's worked every year for a thousand years so we need to remember that and but the way we're teaching it now is not getting it but anyway that's just my opinion so i've had it that way since 19 matter of fact my some of my comments were and jenny was asking the other day was i going to go and do something about it or be on the board be on the committee or whatever no i've been there done that i didn't have some of my comments uh on congress actually because it went that far with peyton wilcock in texas but anyway so i've been there done that spent years doing

087it and i hope some of the new parents pick up the mantle because i have kids in elementary school and grandkids i sure would appreciate it thank you miss mr thurman you want a motion to put that back on okay motion to approve do we have a second second chemist ford mrs hill yes mrs jones yes mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs thurman yes chairman yes all right mr perez um so i was actually looking on our john online to see if there was any documentation about the um insurance contract renewals so can you just tell me if anything okay sorry i miss it um even for the public is there anything new or important to note on that can you hear me um we are the only thing we're changing

088on the stop-loss coverage we took it from a 350 thousand dollar limit to 37 375 000 and that just covers when our uh medical claims pull it to you he said quiet well we raised it from 350 to 375 to kind of trying to balance with the the rate increase but everything else is the same okay um i brought this up with you all and and at some point um you know and i may just be one voice i have a concern about the reimbursement plan for dental only in that teachers with multiple children are expected to pay out a lot of money and wait a few weeks to get paid back so so in july i don't care speaking benefits update and that's one of the items yeah we are evaluating many different options

089for dental because we understand that that's a concern um i went for a crown the other week and it was 1300 out of pocket many of our employees can't afford it we actually have an employee in our department who hasn't been to have her teeth cleaned because of the out of pocket so we're exploring other options well that's my concern the point of benefits is to obviously to keep our teachers healthy absolutely and if they're not going to do it or send their kids to get teeth cleanings because they're afraid then we're going to deal with a bigger problem yeah so we're looking at additional preventative measures health and well-being of all of our employees in all aspects so we'll have more information soon thank you and just for the record around uh dental specifically

090because we've had a lot of conversation around dental we're probably looking at a situation where there will be an option because technically the reimbursement is usually a better benefit for the employee when you can afford the out of pocket the problem is the affording the out of pocket so we'll probably be in an optional stance where you can choose but uh penny and our team are digging into that yeah as i've learned this week wisdom teeth seem to be covered nowhere um and so uh uh you know and i've learned they're also really expensive to pull out um and so you know yeah i'll take i'll take care of them at home on my own and then we'll figure it out come on kid lie down um all right uh no thank you that's that's

091all i have so okay anything else on adam mr press do you have motion to approve that i approve i make a motion to approve second okay mrs ford mrs hill yes mrs jones yes mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs thurman yes chairman wingate yes all right so i believe that drops us down to administrative business matters we did other than those other than those two items that we pulled all right so that brings us down our first item there would be uh the covid reimbursement for schools do we have a motion to approve so moved we have a second second sorry steve's not here he usually doesn't all right any discussion around that okay mr ford mrs hill yes mrs jones yes mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith

092yes mrs thurman yes chairman wingate yes next item there would be the musical instrument sanitation and repair request we have a motion to approve second second just okay for public sake this is an amended item uh that we're requesting uh we'll use gp dollars initially reimburse it with esser uh about 200 thousand dollars for our instrument uh repairs and sanitization in particular a sanitation in particular in um you know a coveted year so much needed uh really honestly doesn't get us all the way where we need to be uh but again a step uh in the in the right direction dr johnson how much how much do you think it'll take us to get to where we need to be with that i mean more sanitary well this takes care of all the sandwiches this

093will take care of all the sanitation uh about a half a million dollars to address the repairs i mean you know instruments are just very very very expensive another thing just as an fyi and this and search for this but one of the things we're also looking at uh is we know that uh our our scholarly our arts programs and our our athletic programs suffered this year as many small businesses did and i know our small business but they suffered with uh gate receipts and the ability to take in funds as they usually do those things support and undergird the program so justin and his team are we're working through a model uh in essence to try to help offset some of that but again this is a step to address uh the arts needs

094uh in regards to to just uh sanitizing our instruments and get them up to par mrs hill thank you i appreciate that giant steps as a local vendor and i i would like to better understand the process of awarding this 200 000 contract to them i mean they had an existing relationship with us but this is a significant amount of money especially if we move forward so help me understand what other local vendors we have that could be doing this work and why giant steps was chosen i'm happy to speak to that high level and claire uh would be even better and um in speaking to more specifics there has been a a prior relationship uh they're one of very few in the county that have done uh very good work in the past historically

095and so that's the that's the context there's very few people that um that do this and so that's that's how they operate most of our schools when they've had because frankly we haven't been positioned to uh provide at scale this type of um this type of support so most of our schools have used them on individual basis and we've had funds we've been able to use it so that's the that's the standpoint of the context in which giant steps was used has been our vendor that we we've partnered with for this so tonight help me make sure that i am understanding my understanding is we're approving a 200 000 uh sanitation and repair budget but the half a million dollars that you brought up that would complete the repairs is not included in this but

096i see we also have a general approval for giant steps for the remainder of or for the next academic year so like when we get into this 300 like we need to make sure we're really doing our due diligence on contracts like these absolutely so uh the intent would be to do this 200 000 uh and again we we know schools will start in august i mean bands already rolling uh we'll be rolling here pretty soon and so there's some urgency to get it done um you know as absolutely as we go forward frankly speaking we haven't had money to put into the arts of programs in general if we're in a position where we can go in to go forward put these kinds of resources and funds in it absolutely uh there'll be an

097even broader net cast but we haven't had the volume or capability to be able to do this as a district so because of esser we're positioned a lot better to be able to do that and this is a small beginning step in which we uh we absolutely will strengthen so in approving the uh continued relationship with giant steps for the 2021-2022 school year we are this is the as needed contract that we'll be approving for the as the as needed agreement absolutely but uh we would bring back four to the boards like just 200 000 we bring back forward to say this is what we're looking at doing okay to get approval absolutely thank you all right anyone else go ahead ms smith that uh 200 000 you mentioned that it's going to take care

098of all the sanitation what what's the break i mean how much is the sanitation going to cost what is that going to leave us to do at least some of the repair uh we'll have to get that answer specifically a big chunk of it will be sanitation uh and then they'll be able to we'll be able to do some repair we won't be able to get at the level that we need to again half the half a million dollar number was really to to really dig into our repair cost so it won't be significant but we can get the exact break they're still working through it uh we're trying to expedite it so that when we're ready to roll they can push the instrument so let's let's pretend for a moment that half of it's

099gonna be sanitation and i'm just probably gonna figure out but how will you determine how you allocate what's left per school for those repairs how will that work yeah good job yeah so we're going to use enrollment data from the 2019-2020 school year because we know in a moment and our instrument courses dropped off significantly this past year and we're going to do a per people allocation with the remaining funds okay so so sanitizing instrument is roughly fifty dollars per instrument so we're running through those numbers now the only thing i'd push back a little bit is when you say per enrollment you know you got some schools that are not doing a lot but but if you're gonna base that on enrollment instead of the number of students that are actually participating yeah this

100is a time i think we were talking about partnerships with people i think this is where some of the we can ask put it out there that you know we need some instruments for schools i'm sure there's people may have a tuba sitting around their house they'd like to get out of the way uh you know i mean that we would take you know we could take some um quality and but i mean just some quality if they even if they don't own them and they're not you know you can do away with them or whatever but uh just just see what's out there we might be we might be surprised i mean a friend of mine his wife has alzheimer's to play the flute you know donate donate a flute to someone so uh

101you know there's all kinds of things out there that people may have that if they knew the school needed them might be glad to to donate them i think it's a partnership that maybe we could look at mr perez so just on the enrollment comment to to add to mr smith's comments um i would also think of the fact that in some schools there may be a higher percentage of students that own their own instrument and care for their own instrument than uh than others and so um to a degree that may be something you want to take into account as you allocate because some schools where where they don't need as many funds may end up getting more funds than they than they actually need and just to be clear generally speaking as a

102district since i've been here as a district we've not been able to do this wholesale what we've done is allocated fun well frankly what we've done is replaced fees um the fee structure and schools have their own money they used to and they use that to do so i want to go back to a question you asked so that was clear and answering for full transparency there may still be a school that goes to giant step on an individual basis to do something systemically um if we have something that's you know going to be at this level so we're going to bring it forward to the board but um but we haven't been able to do this and so obviously if there's any year to sanitize instruments this is the one and so uh we're

103fortunate to be able to do it so just one other kind of caveat let's keep that at the top of our priority list and you know was worth because probably to do that sanitation is going to take a huge chunk of that 200 000 which is going to leave just very little to do repairs and you know we got schools that jump into the bed to use their instruments but they don't work back when i was growing up we didn't sanitize instruments she shared mouthpieces didn't you and i didn't grow up in hamilton county guys so this is like a thing across all public school districts as well well let me say this like we're we're ahead of the curve absolute covet um in in a humid in in we're a human state uh absent

104covet uh the ability for mold to build up etc etc etc is significant even absent kovitz so um anyways we we need to do this um so that bringing up mold and in instruments is kind of where i was headed but i want to i really do wonder sanitation versus cleaning and joe you've you've really been integral in this conversation what is the different the cost difference between a sanitized instrument and a clean a professionally cleaned instrument have has anybody because here's here's what i'm thinking about germs and viruses like we know that covid doesn't last forever on this surface so it's not going to last forever on the on my saxophone right so cleaning versus scent like if if sanitizing is 50 and cleaning is 30 then we have more money for repairs yeah

105so it's my understanding that the fifty dollars covers the cleaning and sanitization right well i just wonder like i'm you wondering mr ransom class arts and sciences no i yeah you missed failure i played the flute for two years you clean and sanitize at the same time you clean and sanitize at the same time and then a lot of band teachers teach you that like i remember mr ransom would teach them how to shine their instruments um i played percussion but he would teach us how to maintain the drum heads and the mallet i mean we were taught those things um and he even taught them how to clean like they would thread i remember spreading that thing through there i didn't like them okay so cleaning and sanitizing happens because i mean you know

106sanitizing is like a buzzword right now and we'll dispense well i don't know jenny and my house is the same thing i use clorox and everything so everything getting sanitized and cleaned at the same time i'd love for you to check out my leftovers all right we have uh anything else on that item all right mrs ford mrs hill yes mrs jones yes mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs thurman yes chairman yes all right that brings us to our board matters first item there would be position requests the first one there is student security officers do we have a motion to approve second all right do we have any discussion mrs jones and then mr perez and miss thurman no i don't have any discussion i was about that was left

107from oh sorry mr perez so um just i i was privileged to be at the county commission meeting for two and a half hours um to uh hear some of this discussion um and for the public's uh you know opportunity to hear i think i think what was frustrating of the long discussion to me was that everybody seems to agree that we all want as much and as many ways as possible to secure our schools and that there is no uh at least a deep division and and how we think we can uh we can achieve that um and so i know that there's been uh an opportunity to to move forward the the commission seemed very open uh from my perspective to uh us not only hiring the nine that we've uh that we

108were asked for on monday and i know there's there's some some changes there but also to uh growing that if we find that that's an easier way in partnership with uh the sheriff's office uh as well so i i want to say from my perspective and somebody who who was there or the media or somebody can say well that wasn't our perspective um but uh but uh but i think uh just for for for the purpose of the public there there isn't this tension and division uh there is a desire to figure out how we best protect and keep all of our students safe and there seems to be a willingness uh uh to a degree on on allowing both parties to maximize to the best of their efforts uh whichever method works the best

109and so um and and mr dr robertson can probably uh improve on what i said but um but i just i i want us as a board to know that and i want the public to know that as well mrs thurman yeah justin i was going to ask you can you give us a reader's digest version of what condensed version of what happened at the commission meeting so we're all clear about what's going on sure so the county commissioner approved the mayor's budget as presented which has in at 32 sros the sheriff committed to hiring 32 sros which is a really positive step in the right direction at the end of the conversation there was an indication there might be some additional funds through tax revenue that was unexpected that we could then come back

110and as we're hiring additional ssos request uh additional funds for those positions so the amendment to this memo basically reflects that you know saying in addition we can hire up to 25 pending county commission approval that way we don't have to come back to you guys at every moment and request those positions we would show you that adjustment in a quarterly you know budgeted so we have the money to hire the 25 that no ma'am we have we have money for 19. 19. and then we okay and then this is a request that if the county commission provides additional accounting commission okay tire up to 25 more all right okay the the words okay it depends on whether if the sheriff can hire the sros or sros but if we have to fill in with

111ssos is that the mayor the sheriff's budget is set so he has the funding to do the 32 and his support staff what they're saying is if if tax revenue continues to come in higher than what was projected that there may be some additional funds that we could then request to hire more ssos all right thank you uh mrs jones and then mr bro go you finished miss time i know i just i've had a couple more questions i forgot sorry caught up in that uh the uh we and i think everyone got the same email that i there were a few questions i had about ssos just to be clear do they have the authority to make arrests so fine point on this they don't have the authority to arrest they have the authority

112to detain i don't know what you call him a person uh i was going to say suspect and i was like that's right uh to detain someone uh until a responding agency and and it's not always going to be the sheriff's office and red bank it would be the red bank police department until a responding agency can uh respond and take the person for booking yeah and another point that was brought out there was a number the second thing is the liability does that put the liability over on us so when we pour when we discussed this you know about a year and a half ago when we first approved up to the 10 that we initially hired we talked to scott about this and essentially school safety the liabilities on us regardless we have

113um you know the the certification that our insurance covers us for uh the officers they've been trained received all the certifications that they need so from a liability standpoint um were recovered for the officers okay so there's not anything additional that we have to do in order to i mean not any more than we already have for making sure our schools are okay safe uh and also uh an interesting thing i had thought of that sros would have more insight into uh gang activity those kinds of things that maybe is that the ssos would not do you see that as being a well i think we continue to partner with local agencies i mean this summer we're going through training with uh several of emergency management's kind of coordinating it for a active shooter response

114and so as we see ways that we can work more with the local agencies i think that's something that we can you know include in our sso program well i just think that's an important thing because a lot of times there's a lot of investigations going on that we may not know about behind the scenes i just didn't know what kind of if we were privy to that information or would be a privity better information dr corbin is very tied in with those people okay all right well thank you mrs jones so i just have a question justin dr johnson whoever um with the sheriff um stating that he could hire these additional sros is there a time frame on that because and i hate to be debbie down there he's been hiring them for

115seven years so my question is is there a time frame on that and then when they get when we get them because i want to speak optimistically when when they're in the buildings is there some type and i know you can't you can't ever make someone stay in a position or whatever but i think my concern is when we train them and we get them do we know they're going to stay or or is this a or this is a ploy to get these people trained and then yank them from us again like what they did before and they're out at cca or they're in you know are they going to be in our buildings keeping our kids safe and i struggle with these conversations because i feel like our children are such a vulnerable

116population that i hate that we even have to have this conversation that they're not protected in a building if need be but i just i'm just wondering is there some type of accountability there because when all this happened earlier in the spring i had a conversation with my county commissioner and with two other county commissioners about this i even for the first time ever in my tenure called the county mayor i've never called mayor carpenter about anything but i called him with my concern about this and i was informed that of course he's not an employee of the county mayor but he's an employee of the people and i understand that because he's an elected employee but i just want the the people who elect him his employers to understand that no one's saying yay

117or nay in his job performance but there is an accountability level there and when we don't do it we're supposed to do here or let me go back when dr johnson doesn't do what he's supposed to do here or you don't do what you're supposed to do here justin neely marsha penny just as they did to just as the parents did today they hold our feet to the fire about making sure that people do their jobs so i want to make sure that someone is holding so maybe this ain't for y'all i'm hoping somebody is holding the county commission's fee to the fire to make sure that they're doing their part and what they've agreed to because i feel like we we have been above and beyond to ensure this and i i know what

118marco was saying but i've been here seven years and i have faith and i hope the best but i just i am very concerned about the safety of our children i don't care what color they are what they mama's in dead is believing home i just want them safe because in three years my baby will be in one of those buildings and i don't want whoever is going to replace hammond's next year to be promising still promising me even if i'm not sitting here some sros because i want my kids building to have a sro or sso and if we can't get a sro then all of them need ssos there's i'm just i'm over it and we get out we get these emails with both sides of the picture but i will tell you

119this i know people that work in that department and i'm not so confident so i just want to make sure that there's a level of accountability and this is coming from a kid of a 30-plus year veteran of chattanooga police department so i i'm not an anti-law enforcement i'm all about it and i was raised to respect law enforcement but i just want to make sure that it's a dual relationship it's amicable on both sides and it sounds really good to say that but i'm i'm really shocked that you can come up with these people by august but we've been waiting seven years even when we put money in so i just want to i just want to go on record for saying that i there needs to be a level of accountability because i'm

120just not so yay let's kill the deal until i see them in the building mr chris so again having having been in the commission and i won't speak for anybody who spoke there but but i will repeat what i heard and what i understood and so what i heard was a commitment by august and and i fully agree with you that um we need to keep an eye on that um in a sense the opportunity i see for us is is uh and and the opportunity if i understand what dr robertson is asking here is um we will continue to increase the numbers to be able to achieve as much as we can um and yes it will be on the public and the commission uh to to keep an eye on on what is

121happening on the other side so for us as a school board we are are i heard a green light from from the commission that day and again i'm an optimist so i was hearing a green light because i wanted to hear green light um to continue growing this uh and if the sheriff can do it wonderful uh but if uh if we can do it wonderful i'm gonna i'm gonna go ahead and say something as well uh because again people love contention and love division but i want to publicly thank dr corbin who's in the back who has taken a lot of heat um and uh and unnecessarily so uh again this isn't one against the other we are all looking to protect our students uh and we're all serving as best as possible and

122we're uh and the green light i heard from the commission was let's you all keep doing what you do and and we will look for funds as they become available um and uh and then they approve the budget uh that included sheriff hammond's um request for for a budget so uh and that included his commitment that he made very strongly that he will have 32 officers at our schools there is a difference that i also think is important in the public in that our officers uh our ssos um are exclusively of the school uh so they don't get pulled when there's an event and and obviously we understand that there's an event outside the school that's that's serious they're gonna they're gonna send an officer immediately from the sheriff's office but our officers are exclusively

123from the school for the school so they will uh protect the schools uh full time um and you know unless one's absent for some reason but um but anyway so so that's that's just the difference between how they do and and i do i've said this before but i correct the idea that some are lesser than the others yes some have more authority um but the ssos we have our highly trained officers and highly capable who are protecting our schools with with great uh great diligence and so i do want to raise their their value uh publicly as well but but equally thankful for the service of of everybody else in the process all right mrs ford mrs hill yes mrs jones yes mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs thurman yes

124chairman yes next item there is growth the grow your own program uh partnerships coordinator do i have a motion to approve should approve second okay do we have any discussion around that item what mr thurman joe you weren't here the other night uh someone asked i think it may have been jenny ask how many people we were talking about here i think the number was 57 said there were 35 percent of our pipeline is that correct so this position will not only oversee grow your own which currently we have 57 um candidates in that pipeline you saw six of them tonight um but it's also going to oversee all of our other recruitment pathways so also strategically looking at our hbcus and other universities that we're recruiting from as well as other pipelines and partnerships

125such as tfa and project inspire and making sure that they're all moving in the same direction and collectively finding us all the candidates that we need that are quality teachers doing that now so we don't have anyone dedicated to that now it's kind of divided up and with the additional partnerships that we've added so we have lipscomb university and utc and tennessee tech and lee college you know it takes a lot of effort to work with all of those partnerships and you know really steer those pipelines and we're bringing a lot of that recruitment in-house because we're going to need to move in that direction because universities simply don't have the number of candidates that we need either so two points that grow your own is the impetus for this one right um two three

126points two uh s or three dollars would be used to fund this three sustainability uh class uh classes size reduction uh we'll be able to support with opportunity culture correct uh as the structure to be able to fund it in the in beyond the esser dollar so it's it's grow your own as the emphasis so and it just seems like we've added a lot of people to hr it seems like so many school board meetings we've added people to hr and i just wonder sometimes what it's just mind-boggling almost sometimes um so i just wonder who's who's who's doing that work now and are they going to take on more responsibility or or what i don't know it just i think like we just added a lot of people to hr in the last few

127years okay thank you mr perez so um not i i think that's a very valid concern uh mr thurman uh being on the hr committee there i i do think we have to be aware and and recently i had an opportunity to speak to the to the team we have to be aware that like hiring teachers is getting harder nationally and more competitive nationally and as there are less teachers in the pipeline and more districts are are realizing this is a very competitive environment and so i the reason i say that not just for one position but i actually foresee in the future we're going to need more recruiters out there we're going to need people i mean almost almost dealing with how large companies have to deal with uh recruiting right which is we

128we just have to be very proactive very powerful in our recruitment efforts intentional in our recruitment efforts and then we also have to make which i think we're heading in that direction to what as hill said at one point i think our whole community is really driving uh the interest of of education in hamilton county which draws teachers too this will be a county people will want to work at but we also are it's just going to be more and more challenging to recruit because we're competing with i mean i've seen teachers post who've just graduated i got a job in in florida and it's like but you're here like we was it's really challenging but florida is being incredibly aggressive with hiring and other places so i foresee uh i foresee that that's going

129to be a challenge moving forward but um but that this is just one more case and i understand your concern uh just quickly i want to be clear about this entire board and and for the public growing your own will cost us more i mean it's more hands-on uh it's more intense it will absolutely cost us more initially the benefit is and you saw tonight with the six folks that came when you grow your own the likelihood of them staying which which plays out in um hopefully reduction of recurring dollars for onboarding and retraining and resetting i promise you right now those three folks that we recognize that are going into classrooms are light years ahead and and and i don't mean this as a dispersion commonly against anybody coming out of an educated prayer

130program as a traditional um you know educator to it but um there are light years ahead of traditional first year teacher in general because they've been in the classroom they've engaged with students they understand the system they've they've had a chance to not just dip their toe in the water i mean one of the things that that happened today we the commissioner visited she went to red bank elementary and there was a music teacher that's an educational assistant that was teaching a class all summer reach and i hope that we can get her into a grow your own program because she's ready to go and it's just a certification for her she's ready to rock and roll and so i just i just show that to say this will cost us more initially um it's

131the right approach as the market is getting tighter as as utc tennessee tech who should have said before we need to share it again all of our educator prep providers they're the education programs are getting smaller and smaller and smaller there are less people going into the field because frankly there are a lot of other opportunities that are that are valid there so the grow your own is a great model that the state has started to invest in we've been the recipient and beneficiary of some of those current dollars and resources but it absolutely has taken more human capital our end to stand it up to be able to support it because of the complexity of it because of the needs of the employees that are coming in well i know but we've just hired

132so many different recruiters what is the salary for this position it's a coordinator level position so it's based on i will probably have a certified individual so it would be based on their degree in step and then a 1.38 index so it's the coordinator level so probably around 65 or 70. but it's a tremendous lift a lot of partnerships and strategic work so all right do we have another comment on that item or question all right mrs ford mrs hill yes mrs jones mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs thurman no chairman wingate yes that brings us down to the waiver of deed restrictions for the former franklin middle school property do i have a motion to approve so it moved don't move second okay do we have any question or comment

133about that item okay mrs ford mrs hill yes mrs jones yes mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs thurman yes chairman yes next item is the transfer of the garber property to hamilton county government do you have a motion to approve move to approve second okay any discussion okay can i ask how far along we are on that project can you give us an update yeah it's come along uh obviously this is the construction site project uh they are beginning uh clean out i guess abatement will start here pretty soon uh the money's been um allocated uh from the state the city and the county obviously pastor of the budget so it will take off um timeline is to work through it this year and do all the renovation and all that

134additional all the stuff that needs to be done to have it ready to stand up in the fall of 22. so it's it's coming along really well uh but also some uh local philanthropic partners have um have added resources uh there was about a one and a half million dollar gap but i believe that is almost fully closed uh to to be able to fully stand up and make it functional so it's going to be really awesome for our students really awesome for the community uh and a much needed resource anything else okay mr ford mrs hill yes mrs jones yes mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs sermon yes chairman yes next item there would just be a first read on board policy 1.803 the smoke-free and tobacco-free schools do we

135have any discussion around that all right so we'll move down to the calendar adoption for 2022 2023 school year do i have a motion to approve move to approve second all right we have questions or comments around that item mrs thurman yes uh i just would like some clarification there are five uh asynchronous days here uh what exactly are those that says the buses will run that did i hear some discussion about the students would be given uh work to do and they would be expected to do on their own time what's up with these days that's i think you're talking about 21 22 22 23 those are those are not in the 22-23 uh when uh the state they say they're in this calendar of this year this coming year correct 21 22. well

136uh so these days this is counters are different this is for 22 23. okay so those are online learning days that are in this coming calendar that's why i guess that's correct so there were the half days jen go ahead and you speak to it yeah so for this upcoming school year there'll be a synchronous we had approved the calendar before the state determined that we weren't going to do it the state said we weren't going to do that so what are we doing so for this upcoming year we had already approved the calendar and it was approved by the state and then they came out with the rules for the following school year our half days are in person we won't do any acer so that doesn't okay to this next year for us

137correct why why are we doing why are we can we not go to you you absolutely can vote i mean why are why are we doing that i mean is it something if the kids do work those half days are they going to be graded on that is it something they have to do yeah so so we may want to think about the operational efficiency component here just a little bit uh you know we're in a half day we're running buses we're uh picking up students we're you know what i mean you got all those steps that are there so there is some benefit um you know obviously we've got to focus on staying in school but but the board has the ability you know for the 2012 calendar the days are set if if

138you want to make any adjustments to uh how those are structured the state has approved it uh but if the board would like to adjust those to you know in person have days that completely is at the pleasure of the board this is the 2223 calendar that is that cuts those days out and so there there are half days buses will run students will be fed et cetera so what's your vote what what's what's for consideration today is the 2223 calendar yeah if you all want us to amend the 21 22 calendar we can do that and bring that to you but i just want to make sure these were not the same kind of days correct as those days because i thought the state had voted that we couldn't do online anymore that's great

139all right do we have any discussion around that item all right mrs ford mrs hill yes mrs jones yes mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs thurman no because i still think we start to school too early no chairman wingate no all right that brings us down to um the approval for the renewal of the charter agreement with the uh charter china charter school of excellence the lower school do i have a motion to approve so moved second right any discussion or questions about that item okay mrs ford mrs hill yes mrs jones yes mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs sermon yes chairman yes it's all right okay sorry i was just trying to get some clarification on the next item here so next item would be the

140approval for chattanooga charter school of excellence uh contract that would be for secondary school additional high school so if they've had their the lower was up for renewal the upper is a new site so you're what's under consideration here is the new site okay mr perez why do i feel we already voted for this we discussed it yeah you did so you discussed it you vote on this is the actual contract complete that's coming forward okay all right mr thurman did you want to say something oh no okay anybody else oh i'm sorry i'm sorry you have motion to approve so moved second all right anything else on that all right miss ford mrs hill yes mrs jones yes mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs thurman yes chairman yes next item

141would be uh the charter contract for ivy academy to add an element is that adding an elementary i thought they already had a second site okay yeah sorry i moved to approve this all right did you get did you get two there mrs ford i got mr approved second mr smith okay thank you all right any discussion there yeah they're gonna have two two sites one in saudi daisy and one up on 58. okay mr just let me just interject if you've never had the opportunity to go look at what angie martin is doing out there it'd be worth your trip i mean it just blows me away the work that she and her staff are doing with kids up there it's amazing it's true all right miss ford mrs hill yes mrs jones yes

142mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs sermon yes chairman wingate yes next item would be field improvements at howard high school on the softball field do i have a motion to approve so moved second thank you all right any discussion or question on that item i do just want to thank dr robertson for working with the coaches at howard to make this possible the girls softball team has been a growing team and a great opportunity for the students there and so it's going to be really great to see them have the kind of softball field that they need and that they deserve so i want to tell you thank you justin on that note tiffany we were told monday night they're raising it up because it floods there and they're doing a

143lot of work there so hopefully that will alleviate a lot of the problems they've had there in the past yes i think we're ready mrs hill yes mrs jones yes mr perez yes mrs robinson yes mr smith yes mrs thurman yes chairman wingate yes all right last item here mrs hill had asked me about discussion on this uh urban schools class policy retreat so i told her we would do that mrs hill thanks yeah i mean tiffany is uh legislation but when i saw this come across it looked like they needed some answers from us they were expecting some answers from hamilton county schools pretty quickly and so and tucker very quickly said he was interested in attending a wonder like if you were planning i think it's in october to know um about that

144but then also the fact that we'd be looking at a new legislative year and perhaps going ahead and working as a group on what our legislative priorities are going to be for the next session we um we're slowly getting into a routine with that tiffany did a great job of it this last year so i've any thoughts about that tiffany um yeah i mean i support the board starting to really think through this i think that um last year we as a as a collective group we didn't get to have a conversation about our legislative priorities and i think that was primarily because of the the chaos of coded but no doubt that on the state level um there was no better time for us to be paying attention to what was going on um

145and so i do think that this coming year is going to be just as important especially with the kind of um seeing what happens next postcoded and then to be really honest with you just with just so much that's happening in the political climate around education i think that it's important that our board do have that conversation or become as informed as we can on you know what is potentially on the docket and where do we advocate and where do we where we involve so i i agree with you so maybe chairman we could have a work session to talk about that at some point okay um yeah we can talk about that and maybe send something out to everybody yeah maybe you're saying before before uh we typically convene with class in the fall

146is that what you're thinking yes actually if i can just piggyback on what you're saying um i actually think it'd be incredibly beneficial for our board to maybe even consider meeting with our state delegates um we get to spend time with them uh at you know roundtable events and sometimes one-on-one but as a collective body i don't know of a time that we've really done that since i've been on the board i'm sure we have a couple times but everything's a blur from 20 20 years i think everything's like been erased from my brain but yeah pre-covered but um but i think that'd be a it'd be really impactful for us to sit down and really hear you know what our legislative team's view is on what's going to be important in nashville come january

1472022 around education because there is a lot happening and to be really honest with you as the legis the class representative it is difficult to keep up with everything that's going on because there's so much happening in such a fast period of time and so if we want to be the best uh quote unquote lobbyist as we can be for ourselves for our school district i think it might be worthwhile just having that conversation and to be honest with you like i think that we have a great relationship with our state delegates and so we need to really leverage that and talk more i know that you do i know you talk a lot with them but as a board i think that there are things that we are seeing that we could bring to

148them that they would appreciate to hear and to know more about all right anything else around that item so mrs hill just maybe put your head around that and think about uh well i mean it's i'm not i'm sure i want to step on tiffany's toes but i just think if we had a work session you know maybe in august or september that would give tiffany plenty of time before october i think i love that idea i think it's a great idea absolutely second that happy to organize it as well i don't does that touch on what you want to talk about though the urban schools policy retreat well so so i i would see that as work to prepare our representatives for that urban policy retreat because that this is the first time as

149far as i know that the districts have convened in this way and we've seen that some of the other larger districts have really not had the successes with the legislature that we have we have seen with our with our delegation um and and so i feel like we need to go in knowing what we want to push for for hamilton county schools so that our our representation through class truly represents what we need in chattanooga in hamilton county um because memphis and and uh nashville have have they're just a lot bigger than us yeah they're bigger and they're a lot in a lot of ways different than us like we are a very unique school system so i did want to mention though that i expected um senator gardner earlier this week and there was

150a meeting uh last week with the state comptroller are you familiar with this dr johnson yeah i think that we actually got left out of the equation or the conversation unfortunately and it was to talk about how the dollars can be spent they're coming uh the the the yeah is it care dollars yeah okay so but um he you know he he was not not upset by any means but he was concerned that we weren't able to be a part of the conversation because i don't he admittedly said that no one got us information so but there's going to be a second conversation on august 9th and it's going to be in bradley county but it's the same conversation and it's basically just kind of an overview from um the state level about how those

151dollars can be spent and basically the comptroller answering any and all questions for legislative bodies that are receiving these dollars to really understand it and so i think that that would be smart for our board and then hopefully some of our administration team to go to as well so he told me it's august 9th uh probably at three o'clock in the afternoon and that he'll send me the location whenever he has it all right so uh upcoming events announcements here quickly district office will be closed july 5th on observance of independence day our next work session will be monday july the 12th next board meeting will be thursday july 15th anybody else got anything they want to make an announcement about all right meeting adjourned you