001award. Thank you, Miss Kushman, for your tireless efforts, your heart for service, and the positive impact you continue to make every day. You exemplify excellence, and you continue to grow in greatness. Our next is Miss is also district 4 recognition, Miss Rosemary Winters. [Applause] Miss Winters is the fifth grade special education teacher and special education chairperson. [Applause] She's at Common K8 under the leadership of Principal Julia Callaway. In recognition of Rosemary Wyinners for her exceptional leadership and unwavering commitment to excellent to educational excellence, her contributions are evident throughout the district where her unwavering dedication continues to expire. She has been nominated by the governor of Tennessee to serve on the state's ELA standards committee. [Applause] And our last but not least, Miss Katherine Stout. In recognition of Katherine Stout of Stout Consulting for her exceptional
002contributions and tireless commitment to excellence, Miss Stout's work is grounded in purpose, integrity, and passion. Her insight and leadership have strengthened community initiatives and inspired positive lasting change. She has been nominated by the governor of Tennessee to serve on the state's ELA standards committee. Thank you to all of our honores on tonight. Enjoy that. >> We got to go. We are now on to the academic performance committee report. >> Thank you chair. The report will be included in the superintendent um report when he gives it gives it. Thank you. >> We are now on to budget audit and finance committee report. budget audit audit a audit finance committee report. >> Yeah, thank you chair. Um the board you all received a calendar earlier in the month and uh we we discussed it at our board
003retreat. Let me know if you have any feedback on it. Um particularly if there are um conflicts or anything that you want to be added. Um I will be uh similar to last year making sure that I hear your board or your budget priorities as well. Um the business system review that we also discussed during our retreat is also calendared throughout that. Um one thing I will ask is that we do double check that the optional things that we did name are added to that budget calendar. So we identified a few areas that are in policy that I think are important um that Chief White outlined in sort of how policy interacts um with our strategy. So I think it's important that we go back and revisit that calendar. And then the last is announcement.
004Uh budget 101 sessions will uh those advertisements and um calendar invites or the social aspect alerting the public that they are calendared will start tomorrow. So be on the lookout for that. And that concludes the budget audit and finance committee report. >> Thank you. Charter schools committee report. >> No report. >> Thank you. community outreach and engagement report. >> No report, but I did want to shout out Service Master for um um providing my district and my school um um book bags and school supplies. Thank you, Service Master. evaluation committee report. Um we were given the tool at our committee meeting. So we will start looking over that in our next committee meeting. Policy, governance and legislation committee report. >> Thank you um board chair. We um briefly discussed um during the board retreat some
005things that we need to add to our policy agenda in terms of um policy revisions and review. We also have several policies on the agenda tonight for unfinished business but also new business. And finally, we added uh the resolution for us to consider the governance training consultant that we will be using as we move into our work around goals, visions, and our core beliefs and commitments. And I think that is it. Thank you. >> Procurement. >> Thank you, chair. This is where we'll announce the facilities. So, the ad hoc uh facilities committee will meet September 4th at the TLA building 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Um, we will also have two s two students that were suggested by principles. We asked for principles to give two names of students that they would select for we
006will choose from those names that we have. I know it's been a b a busy m uh time this year. So, we have uh gathered a few names and so we'll we'll um put names in a basket and we'll pick two and those students will receive calls and emails from us to with um the information for the next meeting. We'll also be selecting our two parents as well. So, again, the next meeting will be September 4th at the TLA building. That's going to be at 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Uh last thing, we will be sending you an agenda by the end of the week. Thank you. Uh as before we bring general counsel up, I want to recognize our communications department that for the last 15, 19, 35, it's been some days. They have
007gone out and done 20 where we're doing 20 and 20 where every morning we're at a different school. board members have been able to meet us there and they get up and some schools they're there as early as six o'clock and we play music. Well, they play music. I don't play music, socialize with the kids and welcome the kids back into school. So, if we could just recognize Kavan J, John Best, Khalia, our face department. It takes a village and they are part every morning. Y'all, John cut up so bad yesterday at that White Haven school. He just Dr. Brum, he showed out over that at that that White Haven school >> key. Melro's dad White Haven. Okay. But we we just want to recognize them because while some are still resting, they're out welcoming
008our children, letting them know that they matter, speaking positive. Board member Huie Garcia and I had a great time. M board member Kiss this morning. I think all of them have been out or we're going out and just to be with our kids. when you can get our OG out to welcome the kids. It's early in the morning. Mr. Keith, you know you doing something. But >> we want to thank you. And also, I see Director Jackson is back. Director Jackson, we honored you for your birthday. We want to say happy birthday to you. >> Okay, General Counsel, I took some of your time, but >> that's all right. I'll give you the time, chair. No report this evening. We're now into the superintendent's report. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Board members, good evening. Uh,
009I'm pleased to report that Memphis Shelby County Schools has successfully opened the new school year. Our school readiness process ensured coordinated preparation across all departments from academics to operations. We made strong progress in human resources with continued recruitment efforts to fill teaching positions. Our transportations department achieved full route coverage for day one. And our facilities team completed extensive summer maintenance and improvements to prepare our schools. Tonight's report provides details on these key areas and our ongoing commitment to operational excellence for our students and staff. And the team will tell you um we're going to have a book study. Our first semester book study is the 17 indisputable laws of John of uh teamwork by John Maxwell. And they often hear me say that one is too small a number to achieve greatness. So I want
010to thank everyone who made this successful opening of school. I heard board chair talk about the communications team. Uh but again there were several people who made it possible. Our teachers, principles, bus drivers, custodial and maintenance staff, nutritional services, IT, safety personnel, central office staff, and all support teams who work tirelessly to prepare for our students. You are the greatness that grows here. And first up, we're going to have uh Dr. Malone and Mr. Cedric Smith. They're going to talk speak to you all board and go through uh how we get ready for school, our school readiness process. Uh so at this time, Dr. Malone and Mr. Cedric Smith. >> All right. Thank you, uh Dr. Richmond and board members. First of all, I just have to say this. As a former educator or teacher
011and principal, had no idea all the things that took place behind the scenes. as a teacher and as a principal, we we get to school and all we know is the air needs to be on. We need to have our books, but there's a lot that goes with this process. So, uh, Director Smith and I are going to kind of talk briefly about this process. Uh, next slide, please. So, if you just take a look at this real quick, this is kind of a cycle what takes place with us on a weekly basis. We meet with several departments and director Smith's going to kind of elaborate on that, but take a look at the first slide. Um each week our departments meet with the OPRS and we share and update the cross functional group of
012the progress toward completing goals related to school readiness. This process starts well early into the summer. Um we start looking at project monitoring. Reps engage in project monitoring to ensure work and projects are completed. We do a really good job of tracking the school readiness process through something called the spreadsheet. Um each department is responsible for completing that as well as percentages. We analyze the impact and last we refine the process. So there's a lot of work that goes into this and I just have to say before I turn the mic over to Director Smith, having been in our district almost 30 years, knock on wood, this is probably the best start I've ever been a part of. >> All right, >> good afternoon, good evening board members and Dr. Richmond. Uh, next slide, please.
013due to time constraints. We just want to recognize all our departments that helped us to have a successful first day of school start success. Uh I want to give a special shout out though to Mr. Feny and Miss Stewart for ensuring that all the HVAC issues were handled in a quick manner and that is the and this is and this is the first time in a long time that we did not have to do a early dismissal because of air conditioning issues. So, we want to shout out all our departments and uh Dr. Richmond Dayun and I hate this song, but it with boots on the ground. >> Next up will be Miss Michelle Stewart and Mr. Tito Langston, and they will talk about uh the facilities and start a school for our facilities and
014maintenance department. >> Thank you, Dr. Richmond. So, um, I just did some highlights for this slide. So, you'll see that over the summer months, we completed 9,055 work orders. That first table shows, oh, sorry, it got rearranged a little bit. That last table shows you the 9,55 work orders with HVAC, plumbing, electrical, leading the way. Um, those are the things that we completed for starter school. Um the 10 capital HVAC replacements, those were the board approved HVAC replacements at those uh Cromwell, Egypt, that list in the middle there that starts, those are large equipment. So the chillers, boilers, air pumps, air handlers. Um we did 14 smaller non- capital HVAC um upgrades at that first list there. You see the rooftop units at those schools. Um then finally just this and this again isn't everything
015that we did but we did 10 gymnasium LED lighting replacement projects, six indoor and two outdoor lighting projects and five full parking lot repaving projects. So they were I'm super proud of my teams. They were they did an amazing job. Um so yeah, that's just a little bit of what we did this this summer to get ready for school. [Applause] Next up will be uh Mr. Langston. But again, I want to thank Miss Stewart and the entire facilities and maintenance team. Uh next up would be Mr. Langston, but I also see Mr. Weary uh in the back. I want to thank them as we move into the slide on transportation for an excellent job of opening school in regards to transportation. So at this time, next slide, Mr. Langston will update you all on transportation.
016>> Thank you, Dr. Dr. Richmond board members um as Dr. Richmond alluded to Mr. Weary if you can stand stand quickly um Mr. Weary director Williams I don't know if she's here multifaceted operation that we have to run. So specifically with transportation as board members if as the ones who walked with us um to knock on doors you'll remember that buses started long early to do routes on day one um um the our vendor first student was fully staffed um and making every stop that we had um for our students. Looking at quickly at the me metrics, um you can see the bus routes that we ran. We transport over 25,000 students in our district. Um we touched close to 9,500 stops. Um and one of the things that I wanted to highlight is if
017you remember last year we implemented edge log parent portal tracking app. Last year we was around 52 users. This year we've increased it to um with the outstanding work of the team to over um up over 2,000 more users. So we are now over 7,200 users for Edelog parent portal. >> Thank you Mr. Langston for that report. Let's give Mr. Langston, Mr. Weirary, and Miss Williams a round of applause. Next up, we have our chief of HR, uh, Miss Oliver. Next slide. And Miss Oliver will report out on where we are with human resources. >> Good afternoon. Thanks, Dr. Richmond and board. Um I'm happy to say that we have done some realignment in the with the HR team which has caused us to do some level setting and uh right now with the number
018of vacancies provided that the recommendations that we have in our region total vacancies is 85. [Applause] >> Can you repeat that? Yes, this is teachers. This is teachers >> classroom. >> And [Applause] I I do want to make one point. You all know that this number is fluid because we continue to get people to resign. But one of the things the realignment of some of the uh team members and also going back because we had postings and level setting with the postings that we have. So now we are working with what we actually know is real and also by cleaning out and level setting we can move through the process quicker as well. >> Next slide. Go to the next slide. So I think the next slide captures uh the essence of what uh Miss
019Oliver is sharing. I appreciate the support team. And I would just one caveat too that I want to make. Uh that department, the HR department uh was cut by 50%. Uh we're having to rebuild uh that department uh many of the employees and and I was going to recognize the employees really back in June. As you all know, Miss Oliver didn't come on until uh July. Uh but that department has been working tirelessly even before uh Miss Oliver came. I wanted to recognize them at a board meeting because when you think about uh half of the individuals who were there and they continued to work throughout the year, uh I want to go on record as thanking every one of those employees uh who worked tirelessly this past year. But I've also told Miss Oliver
020we are probably be bringing before the board some additional staff people uh to help her and to help that department uh because it was cut so that again we want to be able to hire some employees and some key uh positions so we can maintain the momentum of being able to staff uh all of our departments but also so we can recruit, retain, and place some of the best and the brightest that are in this city as we have to back field positions. Also know that much of this is fluid. We still have people who are resigning, retiring, and things like that. So, we could see 85 uh positions today. We could be at 115 tomorrow. It goes back and forth, but again, I want to thank Miss Oliver and the team. It clearly shows
021when you have someone who knows what they're doing, who's extremely effective, you can move the needle uh in some of these metrics and areas that we're trying to move them. So again, I want to thank her and her team. Thank you. [Applause] Next is uh research, evaluation, accountability, and data. Uh Mr. White will present uh and we've heard a lot of discussion about transparency. What you're going to see with Mr. White's report, he's going to talk about enrollment. Uh but also for my team and I, it's important for us to have feedback, real time feedback. We we'll take constructive criticism because I think as a team, that's how you get better. So, Mr. White is also going to share survey data. uh we wanted to survey both our teachers and leaders to ask them uh
022so that we wouldn't just have anecdotal feedback. We wanted real time quantitative and qualitative data to assess how the opening of school was. And so Mr. White will go into detail about that. So Mr. White, >> thank you Dr. Richmond. Good evening board members. Um first we're going to look at some of our current enrollment data. um enrollment. You know, a lot of people will ask me, you know, what's our enrollment? And in a district our size and in a portfolio district like ours, that's not necessarily an easy answer. Uh in that sometimes it just depends on well, who do you want to count? Do you want to count the charters? Do you want to count the prek kids? So on and so forth. The other thing about enrollment in a district our size is
023it changes. I can pull it from our system now and five minutes later, well maybe not so much at night, but five minutes later during the day it'll be a totally different number. Maybe slightly different, but the kids are moving all the time. Students are withdrawing and enrolling all the time. But this gives you a summary. Uh these data were pulled yesterday. Um, so they're now even a little bit old, but the first line shows you our preK data. PreK data can be a little funny because they first get enrolled in a different system and then we move those data over to power school. But what the Power School data are showing is that we are at two uh 2,638 with our projection of being 300 3,340. Um but again those counts are changing as
024more and more students get enrolled. Um the charter data are showing that compared to projections um the total for charter schools is down by about two thou 240 students compared to projection. So you can see you're getting last year's number, the projection, and then this year's number. Um for the non-charter sector, meaning basically all of our schools other than charter, um enrollment as compared to projection, uh is down by 2,924. Then when you total all of that up and do not include preK, you can see we're at 103,280, which is about 3,000 less than projection. And then when you throw in the prek, we're at 105,918. Now, steadily the enrollment is increasing and therefore that gap is closing. Um, that tends to happen a lot for the first 20 days or so. Um, you will
025see some of our students kind of trickle in. Um now the baseline for staffing number that's kind of a special number that uh requires some explanation in that that is a number that we use when we're looking at the schools that are staffed by formula and that is most of our schools. What it doesn't include are the charter, the virtual, the adult, the alternative, specialty schools like middle college and Hollisf Price and then contract schools which would be the Excel center. It also doesn't include the preK and the CDC students. The CDC students are some of our uh special ed students who require the most hours of service and those um classes have their own staffing formulas. So, it's kind of that baseline again for mostly our traditional schools, grades K through 12, and that
026number is down 2,945. Now, in looking at that number today, it it's down 2,721. So, over a day's time, we picked up a couple hundred kids. So you see how you know it's constantly moving and changing but we will expect it to begin to stabilize after the 20th day. Next slide please. Okay. Dr. Richmond talked about a survey. So um I think it's important when you talk about these things that you have various data that are qualitative, you have your quantitative. You've heard some things that have been discussed. Um but we did want to gauge our school leaders. 80 school leaders meaning primarily principles, administrators responded. Uh we asked them a variety of questions about the really this survey targeted day one, the first day of school. So were all of your teaching positions filled
027and in place? 41% said yes. And again, you've seen there's been constant movement on that number. But at that particular time looking at the first day those 80 respondents 41% said yes. These were just yes no questions. So obviously about 60 or 59% said no. Was your facility ready? 87% 87.5. Did your teachers have the materials and curriculum resources? 70% said yes. Then we asked some questions about technology for student devices. it was about half for Wi-Fi it was about 94% uh power school SIS being ready and available for them 95% interactive whiteboards like your Prometheian and Smartboards uh that was at 94% was transportation in place and running smoothly on day one 93% were meals in place and cafeteria staff running smoothly on day one close to 99% % Did your leadership team receive
028clear and timely communication and support from the district? About 96%. And you have to remember that these don't necessarily for any of these tell the full story like for the transportation. Somebody might have had one bus or something, you know, so it doesn't mean that it was completely absent at that school or completely problematic. Same thing with your facilities. When we ask for about things like AC, it's hard to know if that was just one teacher's classroom or if it was a whole wing of a building, for example. Next slide. Uh we finally asked the school leaders to give an overall rating on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest and that overall rating was a 8.48 pretty much an 8.5. Uh there was an open-ended question where they could provide
029some feedback. Some of the positives that were noted were about the facilities being clean and operational. Um and then also um they highlighted the district's efforts to support readiness. And you can see some actual quotes. Smooth and great day. The district provided all necessary supports concerns. Leaders identified staffing vacancies, late arrival of curriculum resources, and issues with HVAC and student devices. Um, again, those were some of the themes for the open-ended. Uh, we need help making sure all teachers and students are ready with their devices, making sure all are in working order. Uh, recommendations. Leaders recommend ensuring staff positions are filled well before school starts, delivering resources and curriculum earlier, and strengthening communication with the district. uh and the quote there is ensuring all academic and curriculum components and expectations are prepared in advance of
030school start date. So some similar questions were asked of teachers. I think that's what the next slide goes into. Uh it wasn't exactly the same though some of them were the same. Uh so we asked about the school being clean and ready on day one. 95% of our teachers said yes. the instructional resources 65%. Uh the same questions about the technology where the student devices were about a third, the others were higher with the Wi-Fi, the power school and the interactive whiteboards being in the 80s or even up to 91. Uh student schedules being accurate and distributed that was at 83 or close to 84%. Daily operations like arrival, dismissal, dismissal, dismissal. Wow. Uh transitions and lunch. Got tug tongue tied there. Uh 94% and all of this again is about day one. uh supports
031for students with special needs, English learners, other required services at 83%, schools HVAC 73% and school leadership, did they clearly communicate expectations and updates uh 90 close to 96%. Then the teachers also gave an overall rating from 1 to 10 and that was at 8.18. And you can see um from some of the open-ended responses that teachers lauded the overall strong start, noting that most classrooms were ready and leadership was visible. They also expressed appreciation s for smooth and planned operations in schools. Great first week. We were strong. concerns had to do with um finalization of master schedules, delayed instructional materials, student device readiness, classroom air conditioning, and then recommendations emphasized earlier planning and scheduling, timely provisions of materials and devices, clearer communication before school starts. Um, and you've got a couple of quotes there
032for that also. Now, in addition to our leaders and our teachers, uh we actually had some a few questions we asked parents. Now, this wasn't exactly geared towards day one, but it was about the opening of school. And our parents were very positive, too. We had 6,937 parents respond. 90% were positive about the registration process using P school enrollment. 83% were positive about how and this again was uh yes no well actually I think this was on a scale I apologize so it was on the positive end how well did the school communicate important information before enduring uh 83% positive about that how smooth was your child's first day uh bus route drop off classrooms teachers 87% how prepared did the school seem for the start of the academic year 81% and overall how satisfied
033are you with the opening and that was at 87 close to 88%. Next slide. Uh these were some customer service uh related questions that were also part of the survey. How would you rate your overall customer customer service experience with MSCS? That was at 84% positive. When you contacted a school or district office, how responsive and helpful? That was 92%. How respectful and professional was the staff? 90%. And how easy was it for you to get the information or support you needed? 89%. So overall, these data, these survey data really support a lot of what you've heard tonight, but we do recognize some areas that need some additional support. Just a couple other things that I actually mentioned in the board retreat with you uh last week that you would be getting a copy of
034our update report on the 100day plan that should have been left for you um at your seats. And then similarly your um quarterly impact report for quarter 4 basically your yearend report for school year 2425 also at your seats. Not going to spend a lot of time on those. Just wanted to make those available to you in a timely fashion and uh give you the opportunity to read those at your leisure. Thank you, Mr. White. Again, board members, I want to thank the entire team. I also want to thank you all for your support. when you uh take a look at this survey, the reason I wanted to do the survey is I know it's probably I don't remember a time when we've done a survey. So, particularly the survey is to establish a baseline.
035Uh so, as we continue to uh prepare for school readiness and open schools, this is a baseline. We can use these data or whomever is sitting in these in this seat can use these data going forward to evaluate our effectiveness in school readiness uh and opening school from year to year because I think that's important. That's an important metric uh for us to evaluate ourselves against uh each year as we start to talk about uh transparency uh and being again the number one urban school district in the country. Dr. Richmond, I have some board members that have questions. Board member McKenna, Vice Chair Love. >> Thank you. Um, first of all, thank you, Dr. Richmond, to you and your team for this report, but more importantly for the um effort, time, and dedication, and commitment
036that you all put into making sure that school was ready for our students on the first day. So, I I think you all should give yourselves a big hand of applause because you all did a phenomenal job. you you knew the question I was going to ask about baselines. So, thank you. So, this creates a baseline for us to keep make to make sure that one we're looking at how continuous improvement >> exactly >> so that we can keep moving the needle up. But, um and also I wanted to ask a couple of questions with the HR. you made mention that you all were going to bring you were going to bring us some um more positions that you wanted to to um for us to invest in. So when you do that, can you
037make sure that you let us know the current number of employees and then the um expected number of employees with the justifications for those employees? I think it's important because a lot of the questions that I'm getting from constituents is the the number of administrators that we have and what they actually function and do. So I think if people understand the number along with what they do and how effective it is when you give us this data I think that would be go a long way for people to understand what it takes to run this this entity and then with enrollment I'm I wanted to um ask you about the impact on the budget particularly when I look at um the projections and then when I look at where we are and I know we're
038about what um a thousand students off from our how many students are we off from our projected right at 3,000 about 2,900 >> closer to 2900 today. >> Okay. Um so just un wanting to understand the impact on the budget but also when you're thinking about um when you're thinking about baseline and and how to get better. I noticed in the 2425 year 15 day we had more students on the 15th day than we have in this particular school year. And I'm just wondering if you all are going to try try to take a look at like what what did we do that we got that bigger lift on about the 15th day last year than we and we could do again for next upcoming school year. Just putting that in. >> And I want
039to make a quick correction. It was 2900 on the slide, but it's about 2700 uh today. >> Okay. Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. >> U excellent question. Uh we'll continue uh Mrs. Davis uh oversees our uh attendance liaison. So our attendance leaison as well as uh school administrators uh are calling students who are on their do students who have not shown up. Uh in regards to the budget, we'll start we've started meeting every Friday to do what's called staff adjustment. So we'll start to look at adjusting staff and moving uh people around to see what impact it has on the budget. We're hoping that we'll be able to uh somewhat reconcile uh with those students uh as opposed to also looking at the number of vacancies that we still have. Uh we won't do
040uh staff adjustment until following up after fall break. Uh so at this point I don't think it will have any major impact on the budget. Now, one thing it may have an impact on may be proximity teachers where we would need less. Maybe we'll need less. We may need less sections. Uh, but we're still looking at that. I think as of today, uh, and Miss Jordan can correct me if I'm wrong. Uh, we're up to about 49 proximity teachers, but again, we could adjust that at any given time as we start to look at uh, staff adjustment. And just real quick, we pay $4 million for proximity up to $4 million. >> Up to $4 million. >> So that means that we could pull that back because we're not using them. Correct. >> If we
041if we do not use the full complement of 70 teachers and I think sections roughly 340 sections. Help me, Miss Jordan. Am I correct? And the number of sections, I know it's 70 teachers, but I I forget the exact number of sections. It's 401 sections and that's roughly 57 full-time teachers and it's pay as you go. So, if we don't keep the people that we have staffed right now all the way up through the end of May, we'll never reach that that that final number in the contract. So, if all of our positions get filled in a month, then we only have a month's invoice. And good evening everyone. I'm sorry for not getting you first. >> Thank you, Miss George. >> Dr. Richmond. Um, you answered two of my questions. I just want to
042give Stephen Weary a shout out because I have not had a phone call this year about the buses. Um, um, Michelle, I want to give you a shout out. because you were my favorite. >> Um, great job everybody. Superintendent already answered my questions. So, I want to say kudos to this year. I have been on the board for a heap of years >> and this uh superintendent didn't pay me to say this. This has been the best year ever with the starter school and greatness rose here in MCS. Board member Otai. >> Thank you, board chair. Got a couple questions. Dr. Richmond. So, um I heard uh the vacancies, we're down to 85. That's great work. Uh I had a question. Um I was asked to by a few teachers earlier this week. Uh as
043far as the teachers that we have that have come on board within the last one to three years, what are we doing to provide additional support for those new teachers? >> Uh that's a great question. Uh board member OT um Miss Addison, do you or Dr. Whitaw want to answer that question uh for me? Miss Addison, good evening superintendent and board members. So currently we are working to ensure that all of our teachers receive a mentor. We are in the process of receiving uh the the list of teachers who will be serving as mentors for our new teachers this year. >> So each teacher will receive a mentor will be new new teacher one to three year one to three. >> Yes. >> It'll be one mentor per per teacher or >> so for the
044first year teacher it'll be one to one. >> For the years above it'll be a ratio. >> Okay. Awesome. Al also board member ODI uh we'll be working with those teachers. There are some teachers who need to receive their certification. Uh I know uh our new HR chief uh Miss Oliver and I we've talked about how to engage those teachers who are needing uh to either take the practice or to be enrolled in an EP program. looking at if their first, second or third year. Uh and as we start the school year, how are we engaging with those teachers to ensure uh that they're getting the support that they need in order to reach full certification? Uh in the past, we've had approximately about 1,200 of those teachers uh with each cohort. And when I
045say cohort, we probably have about 400 that are in year three, about 400 that are in year two, and about 400 that are in year one. uh so we want to engage those individuals so that they don't reach their third year receiving a permit and we're unable to help them to become uh certificated. So the plan is to again for us to engage but we're also looking at partnering with uh like MTR TFA uh there are some other uh EP programs that we're looking at partnering with them as well to help us better support those teachers to answer your question. Okay, thank you for that. I have one additional question or maybe one in a comment. So, uh as far as PD hours are concerned, how many PD hours are the teachers required to complete
046each year? >> Uh excellent question. What we've decided to do is to differentiate uh professional development uh based on the years of experience. Uh I think what we've said is that if you're uh a seasoned veteran teacher, it's 40 hours. Uh, and I think if you're a novice teacher, uh, it's 60 hours of professional development. >> The teachers are required to, um, complete the safe schools training outside of their regular workday. Will those safe schools trainings be added to those accredited to those hours that they need? >> No. The safe schools training, those things are driven by uh, policy. many of them like uh the multi- harasser uh training uh teachers have to have that uh via risk management uh and just as a safety and compliance. Uh the professional development that we're asking them
047to engage in that is required is professional development that is geared toward uh teaching and learning and instruction. So it's two different types of professional development. >> Got it. That concludes my questions. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you, >> Board Member Murphy. Board member Williams. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Dr. Richmond, I want to say thank you to you and your staff for this. You guys have worked hard on this and I appreciate you. And I know that we have had a uphill battle in these last few months, but you guys hung in there. You work with us. We work with you. And I appreciate this. It's readable. is it's tangible. You can put your hands on it. So if they have any questions for us, guess what? We have a 100 day plan
048here. We can just hand them a book and we don't have to guess. So thank you, Dr. Richmond. Thank you to your staff. Job well done. >> Thank you, board member Murphy. >> Board member William. >> Yes. Can I get one of these doctors to give me the difference in in data when we're talking about rating teachers as their growth measures from proximity learning teachers to teachers in the classroom? Is there a gap between the achievement of those students? >> Uh I'll defer to uh Mr. Wright. Mr. Right. Would you uh talk to board member Williams about uh TIM scores uh for our teachers? Thank you. >> Student achievement. >> Well, okay. Student achievement. Ye. >> Yes. Uh uh board member Williams, we have looked at that uh and there is a difference. Um the
049proximity teachers overall don't tend to perform as well uh in terms of those measures. And you know, we certainly recognize that. Um, and that's why uh this work on vacancies is so important. >> How many proximity teachers do we have at this time? >> I'm going to have to defer to Miss Jordan for that. >> Is it Is it 49, Miss Jordan? 49. 49 proximity teachers as of today. >> And with those proximity teachers, there is another person in the classroom actually working as well. Is that correct? >> Yes, sir. Board member Williams. And what areas are they most? What subjects? >> EOCC subjects and of course tested subjects. Mr. Williams. >> Thank you. >> Board member Porter. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I haven't heard in a lot of conversation around the 2024 2025
050TCAP scores and so according when I was doing my research according to you know those scores math is our lowest performing subject ever across district wide I think at 18%. And so I'm just trying to see I heard commissioner Garcia just told me it was addressed in the secondary board retreat I wasn't here but just um what are the new approaches we we're taking towards addressing those math proficiencies. I'm sure we're talking about proximity learning and just having a physical teacher in the classroom. So, I guess how many certified teachers uh will there be in a in in in a in classrooms that's teaching math and two how are we just addressing the the TCAP scores relative to math and I think science is the highest one but relative to math how can we bring
051those scores up and help those schools that are struggling in the bottom 5%. What new approaches are we doing? >> Thank you for your question board member Porter. Uh we did address uh your question. We know specifically algebra 1 and algebra 2 uh were areas uh in math where we didn't do as well as we've done uh before. Uh we talked about again trying to recruit and have a highly effective teacher in those classes. We also uh we didn't name the partner but we also know when we look at uh our grades uh K through five particularly grades three through five our students did well but many of them did well because they had tutors and support. If you think about one of our partners who we didn't have last year, that partner provided uh
052ACT as well as uh numerous support uh for our students. We didn't have that along with again not having uh highly effective teachers in the classroom. Uh but I'll also defer to Miss Maples and the team uh our curriculum team to talk about the additional supports or Dr. Whitaw. I see Dr. Whitelaw if she wants to add as well. uh what we're doing in numeracy particularly for the end of course grades that board member Porter is speaking to. >> Thank you uh board member Porter also superintendent uh Richmond. So thank you for the question. A couple of things that and again that Tuesday we did go into depth uh but I do want to give a round of applause to the team uh Kinder who's been leading the work as well as uh Dr. Maples.
053A couple things that we have already when you talk about innovative strategies one thing that we want to do is work with teachers and make sure they understand the content in the pedigogy. So that's the one area and also what we've been saying and what we said on day two tier one instruction is critical and so what we mean by that first teaching so first teaching is so important that we want to make sure that teachers have the support again around the pedigogy what um and and Connor can also miss Connor can also speak to it in our academic plan. So working with teachers but being very granular and working with them in regions and going in and supporting those teachers. Right now uh she's going in giving feedback just around the questioning protocol also
054giving feedback of how we're engaging students. So what's going to be different pedigogy how we engage students how we use the gradual release model. And so those are some of those things that we talked about on the second day of the retreat and I'll have the team if they want to dig deeper but those are just some of the highlevel things around the work but first we got to make sure teachers understand the pedigogy work with them as well as getting students to be engaged and then kinder if you need to add please. >> Add to it uh Miss Ker uh and then I'mma wrap it up uh and share how we're going to approach it as a team. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh I think the biggest lift is creating lesson plans for teachers
055with the correct math, the correct steps, the whole nine. We also have academic coordinators who are and principles who are supporting them in practicing the delivery of those lesson plans to uh teaching is more than you know just walking around talking to kids, right? And so we have to teach people have to know both content and pedagogy. Um I think uh council great city schools referred to it as an art and a science. So we're working on both of those parts and the biggest thing the biggest lift for us is creating um lesson plans for teachers to use and they are excited and they are using them. and to add additional context, board member Porter, uh the team and I each month uh will be bringing before the board as part of the academic plan.
056Uh last month or this month, uh we bought uh SPL and we talked about our strategic uh literacy partners and we talked about mainly uh our K through two gradeband. We'll be bringing grades three through five next month. The month after that, we'll be bringing grades K through eight. And then the month after that, we'll be bringing 9 through 12 where we'll be talking about the academic plan and how it relates upon the pathway to greatness. Uh and we'll be talking about those content areas that board members uh have interest in and want want to see. But instead of bringing the whole entire uh academic plan, we wanted to bring those grade bands so we could go deep and explaining to you all what we're doing around each grade band and how we're supporting all
057of the content areas as well as how we're aligning the work. >> We're definitely looking forward to with all the interventions and new approaches. Uh I guess we're looking forward to that though the incremental data that we can get and just see how we can um support those schools at the bottom 5% and just seeing what new results we can come up. So so I guess next year I'm looking forward to 18% or greater. >> Thank you. And in regards to TCAP we have shared proficiency what you'll see this week is will uh it's embargo but there will be an announcement around growth. So remember this data it trickles out. We don't get all of it together. In November or December, we'll get our letter grade. So, we have shared proficiency. This week, we're going
058to share once the embargo is lifted, you'll have the growth data. >> Board member McKenna, >> real quick, could you please make sure that all of this information you just presented to us is uploaded so people can see it? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you. Board member board member McKisik. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, Dr. Richmond, I I would like it if you could speak to um our listening audience regarding something that I was really impressed with that came out of our retreat last week and in relation to TECAP and MSCS um taking a different avenue toward reporting our own numbers and not waiting till this 11th hour of the trickle out of uh stats from just one day of testing. Can you share with everyone like that approach that we're going to do as
059a district now regarding our testing and controlling the narrative and you were speaking to about um it's it's really misleading to say that you know our children can't read when they obviously can read and if you could just speak to that. >> Yes ma'am. Thank you board member McKis. Uh what we talked about is that uh the TCAP does not assess reading level. What assesses reading level is I ready. The TCAP assesses proficiency based on state standards. And so we wanted to explain that to the listening uh public because sometimes when the listening public sees that our students are not scoring proficiency, the assumption is that they're not on reading level and that's not true. Uh but again, our team and I uh we're going to take on the task of really getting out into
060the public uh explaining to the larger public and all of our stakeholders first of all what the TCAP assesses but also I ready and other assessments assess uh so that people will be more informed uh around our assessments. We also want to talk to the listening public about certain milestones that have already been uh set through legislation uh so that they'll be aware of what those milestones are uh and how our students are measuring uh up in regards to those milestones that have been set for us. Thank you for that because it's so important to say the message over and over again till it drills in because you know people believe what they are told through hearsay but let's let us be our own hearsay with facts that they can then follow up on on
061the website. So but it really resonated with me when we addressed that in retreat last week. So thank you. >> Yes ma'am. Thank you. There being no further lights, we're now on to unfinished business. Proposed policies reading proposed policy second reading. Good afternoon, superintendent. Um board members, we have for second reading and approval tonight. It is recommended that the Shelby County Board of Education approves proposed revisions to the following policies. 0000 school board meetings. 00002 board member qualifications and election. 00004 officers and duties. 00005 method and election of board offices. 0012 board policy development adoption dissemination and review. 0016 orientation of school board candidate board conference travel 0025 constituent services and 5024 student suicide prevention. Just as a note, policy number 6024, cell phone um personal communication devices, you all suspended the rules last month
062and approved that particular policy on first reading. >> Thank you, board member Kenny. >> Thank you. Um Dr. Richmond and um Miss Stewart, we talked about um policy 0000 schoolboard meetings. Did we make those adjustments? >> I did make the adjustments. Okay. >> So, it should be reflected instead of the 48 hours, it should be 5 days. >> Thank you. And just for everyone's clarity, that means we're sticking with five days. Five 5 days for board work session, 5 days for a school board meeting. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you, >> Board Member Otay. >> Thank you, Chair. I did have one other question regarding academics. Um are all the teachers provided uh provided with lesson plans or if so are they also required to do an additional lesson plan in the content areas? All
063other lesson plans have been done for the content areas. They have those lesson plans. They're free to use those lesson plans, but if they want to modify them, they can. But our goal was to provide all teachers with lesson plans for those for specific content areas. >> Which content areas? >> The four major content areas. ELA, math, science, social studies. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Board member Huitt Garcia. >> Thanks. Uh, we approved 6024 already, but it uh can we make sure it's in the policy manual on board docs that I >> on the active policies? >> It should be posted >> as of this morning. I was I tried to look it up so I'll look and maybe I'm looking in the wrong area. Um, I am curious and I don't need this information
064right now. Have we seen this was my experience with a couple incidents is where we go on a lockdown and it it's a false alarm. Nothing was wrong. We we were taking a precaution where in previous years I received a dozen texts from parents or teachers saying what's going on and then I didn't get any this year. um is a byproduct of this that we're not seeing panic in in moments of like safety and security. Have we seen sort of false information or warrior panic spread slower? Uh which seems like a positive byproduct. I'm just curious, are we are we able to reduce anxiety on the safety and security? So, whoever can answer, I don't know if we measure that in any way or >> No, I I think it's a great question. I think
065the question that you're asking is that being that students do not have access to cell phones, >> Yes. Is it mitigating uh students andor people panicking and spreading false information or narratives that we can now better mitigate uh because students do not have access to cell phones? I would say possibly yes. >> Yeah. I mean I and I get it that's it's not making parents wrong. If my baby texts me and said we heard something was wrong, I would I would text my school board member, too. Um, but yeah, I'm just curious if there's any information or if that's a way that we can get a pulse on it. I'd be interested because I I wasn't expecting that as an outcome of a cell phone ban. But to me, it allowed us to truly investigate
066something and have a and take precautions without panicking our community. So, that's all. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you for the question. And we are uh as you asked board member Garcia, we are tracking uh cell phone data uh relative to the policy. >> Is there a motion and a second to adopt the new >> motion? Motion by board member Otay >> and board second taken by board member Williams. Roll call vote, please. Board member McKisik. >> I. >> Board member Garcia. >> I. >> Board member Porter. >> I. >> Board member Murphy. >> Board member Love. >> Board member McKini. >> I. >> Board member Otay. >> I. >> Board member Williams. >> Hi. >> Board chair Coleman. >> I. >> You have seven in the affirmative. >> Thank you. That motion passes. We're now
067on to new business, new board business, proposed policies. First reading. >> Thank you. For first reading, we are presenting proposed revisions to the following policies that will align our policies with federal and or with state requirements. Policy number 10009, non-discrimination statements. Policy number 50002, programs for students with disabilities under IDA, 50/19, Early Transition to College Program, 60/19, Student Rights and Due Process, and 6043, Healthc Care Management. >> No action on the policies will be need to be taken tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. We're now on to the consent agenda. Are there any items to be removed from the consent agenda? >> Board member McKenna. >> Yes. I'd like to remove 11.3 >> 11 point >> reading horizons 11.1 Approval St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Inc. Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine Partnership, MOOU, no
068dollar amount. 11.2 Approval of Strategic Partners of Literacyou 91,8834. 11.3 was removed. 11.4 Four, approval dual enrollment memorandum of understanding between MSCS and college partners, Tennessee College of Applied Technology, Tennessee Tech, University of Memphis, and Southwest Tennessee Community College, no dollar amount. 11.5 Approval, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Inc. $98,800. 11.6 approval. Save the Music Foundation J Diller Music Tech Grant Craigmont High School $58,300 11.7 Approval State Special Schools agreement with Shelby County School Board of Education. No dollar amount. 11.8 Approval Mindsets Academy LLC $389,000. 11.9 purchase approval lemon on college and Hollis F. Price Middle College High School $175,000 11.10 10 approval Rika $39,271.31 11.11 approval preac assessment 345,835 11.12 approval open text inc $88,748 11.13 approval B4 Inc. Treadwell Elementary School and Treadwell Middle School. No dollar amount is the extension of the completion date
069from August the 30th to October the 18th, 2025. 11.14 Approval naming of Fairley High School Auditorium to be named after Pastor Robert J. Matthews. 11.15 donation acceptance Middle College High School 57,669.80 116 approval ProTek Professional Technologies Inc. 612,37.73 11.17 approval line V Systems US Inc. No dollar amount 11. >> Wait a minute. My page is mixed up. I'm sorry. >> My pages were messed up. 147 thou 11.17 approval line V Systems US Inc. $147,952.118 11.18 approval emergency medical resources PLLC $15,000 11.19 Resolution approval fiscal year August 2025 budget amendment 11.2 11.20 20 resolution approval Shelby County Board of Education assignment of general fund balance. That's it. >> Motion second. >> May I have a motion and second? >> I move. >> I so move that we approve. >> Second. >> Motion by board member Hood
070Garcia. Second by board member which one? McKisick. Say it. >> Roll call vote, please. >> Board member McKisik. >> I. >> Board member Garcia. >> I. >> Board member Porter. >> Hi. >> Board member Murphy. >> I. >> Board member Love. Board member McKini. >> I. >> Board member Otay. >> I. >> Board member Williams. Hi. >> Board Chair Coleman. >> I. >> You have nine in the affirmative. >> Thank you. That motion passes. >> I'm sorry. >> No, 11. >> 11.3. >> Okay. I put that at the end. >> Okay. Which one? >> 11.3 is fine. Reading horizons. >> Okay. We're going to do 11.3. Reading horizon. >> Thank you, board chair. Dr. Dr. Richmond, I have a couple of questions around reading horizons, particularly since this is if I understand this is the
071first time that we've had a dyslexia specific intervention for our students. Is that right? >> Yes, that's correct. >> Okay. So, one of the things I I'm I was looking at and um wanting to make sure that I understood, we talked about tier one and tier 2. This is a tier 2 intervention. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Okay. And so with that, do we um ensuring that we are doing and you have everything you need to ensure that we are implementing this with fidelity. So I was taking a look at the contract and I was looking at the professional learning and my question becomes is and this is under your this is to you for you and your expert your expertise and your folks around you. I'm looking at the number of sessions of
072professional learning and then the number of people and I'm looking at um this is just I need you to let us know that this is sufficient to get what we need done. >> Thank you board member Thank you board member McKenna. What I'll do is allow Dr. Maples uh to answer the question in regards to uh implementation uh and how we will ensure that it's being implemented with fidelity. Dr. Maples. >> Yes. Good evening, board. So, um board member McKenna, we do have um I'm glad that you dug into the contract. So, we do have um a set of training hours available for the initial uh round of implementation because our goal is to train one interventionist, a single interventionist at each school this first year. Um we do know our contract is limited due
073to um you know the available funding and the dollar amount. So we wanted to make sure that we brought it under um a reasonable amount. And so we will have people on the ground. Um so there will be probably about six to eight trainers that come in for that training. And then they will support our RTI team made up of a program director and a clerk and they will support that team with going out into the buildings um to coach to provide that in coach uh in real time coaching to the teachers that are trained those interventionists. >> So I have a follow-up question. Do you mind if I thank you? Um, does that mean that well I guess this model of professional learning and training is that something that the publisher is recommending that
074will get us the outcomes it claims that that curriculum will provide us or is it something different because I heard you also say dollar amount because I want to make sure we're doing we to implement something with fidelity we need to do what the publisher says we need to do in order to get the outcome they claim we're going to get. So my question to you, do you need more money to get this done and to implement it with fidelity? >> Okay. So according to the vendor, this would be the bare minimum um that we would need uh to begin this implementation. And again, considering that we are starting this year with one interventionist from every building, we know that in years to come, yes, we will continue to expand depending on how what we
075see with that ROI. But for this year, working with the vendor, that would be the minimum that's in the contract that we need to be successful. >> Okay, I'm going to >> I guess a a better question would be um and help me, Dr. Maples. Um, a district our size, how many students could we assume from the assessment would be dyslexic. To clarify the we are identifying students with characteristics of dyslexia. So we are not um identifying um or identifying the diagnosis of dyslexia. So these are students characteristics of dyslexia that really struggle with foundational literacy. So that's really what we're finding. And typically and I think we had approximately at the end of this past school year, we had 4,976 students identified for characteristics of dyslexia. So in in essence, per school, you could
076have three students, you could have four students, you could have five students, you could have six students. And what she's saying is you would have a number of students who would have characteristics. We're training at least one person per building. So when you think about 4,000 students, that's not a lot of students to support in regards to if it was 20,000 or 30,000 or 40,000 students. You're talking about a small group of students who will need tier 2, which is tailored support around characteristics of dyslexia. I'm going to push back a little bit on that because I think we need to be um I would we can't hold the publisher or the the whatever the curriculum accountable if we're not doing what we can do in terms of a full complement. So my question to
077you is if you feel confident that that is enough to one deal with that tier one the characteristics of dyslexia because you're going to then have some that are going to actually be dyslexic and that gets us into remediation doing that correctly. I'm just want us to be sure that our students basically our students don't deserve bare minimum. They deserve what we I want to make sure we're doing everything we can and this is no it's again I'm I think I'm saying as a board member that we can discuss amongst ourselves. If ask for what you need and if you if you think you need more then I would say ask for more so that we make sure that again this is about the students and that we're making sure we get everything we possibly
078can to them. So, I'm I'm just simply asking you I'm not going to hold this up. I'm saying take a look at it and if you think there's more that we need to do in order to implement this with fidelity because one thing that we're asking is if you're expecting this outcome, the only way you can get the outcome that the publisher says you can get is if you implement it with fidelity. And once you do that, then we can determine whether this actually works for us and if it's the right publisher. So, first we got to hold ourselves accountable to doing what they tell us we need to do in the right way in order to get the right to get the outcomes that they claim they're going to get. And then after that,
079when we're doing it right, then we can hold them accountable. So, that's that's that's the question and that's what I would like for you to consider. >> Thank you. Is this only a tier two support or are there tier three? Is there a tier three component? >> Both tiers. Tier two and tier three supports. >> Thank you. Board member Otay, did you have your light on? Board member Williams. >> I see one thing in here that says this process can only be implemented by and it says um a competent teacher. It says a teacher who has these qualities. So if the teacher has those qualities, why would we need them? Because they're saying this can only be taught by a competent teacher who can read. They said teach reading, writing, and punctuation. It says, well,
080we know that. So, is that saying the only person are we not having those teachers now? Why would we need to adopt this to say we must have a comp? We we get that part of it and they must be able to transmit this information that you're going to measure to students by in the testing. But it it's not very clear to me what they would be doing to do it. It all says a clear, competent uh teacher, educator is what it says. Who can teach reading, writing, and something it says. So that doesn't say very much to me. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> You must have that. >> Thank you, board member Williams, for the question. I think what we're trying to do when we think about a tier 2 intervention and using interventionist
081to support this is to not really place any additional undue burden on the classroom teacher. This is an opportunity for an interventionist and someone to do what you would call a small group pull out where we'll have this intervent this interventionist trained in using uh reading horizons to provide this tailored support for students who exhibit characteristics of dyslexia. Does this person have to have a degree? Because it only says here that the educator must be the curriculum must address the following. Writing and spelling, reading, writing and spelling. Some some of the inter some of the interventionists may have degrees and some of them may not. Again, they're going to participate in the training so that they'll be able to utilize the curriculum. >> It says a knowledgeable educator. I think it's very broad in its
082concept because it doesn't say that that that a certificate is even required. >> Yes, sir. >> Or degree is required. Yes sir. >> It says they must be competent in those areas. >> Yes, sir. >> I don't know how that's measured. >> Well, similar to what we're doing with our seas, we could also look at providing this training to our seas who are also doing uh pull out uh small groupoup instruction helping to reduce teacher to pupil ratio. Uh we want to ensure that people have all the tools in their tool box that they can to support our students. >> Board member Hugh Garcia. >> Oh, thank you. I I tend to agree with Bo McKenna in that we are doing the bare minimum. I think we know just from a large district that we
083the chances of turnover are pretty high. So if we're already at the minimum and say we lose two trainers, can we actually even understand? So if there is an opportunity to have additional who are maybe cross-trained in the event that there is I think that's good that's good talent planning. Um it doesn't I don't want to hold it up tonight either. But I guess my question is can we can we amend this to add additional people if we experience that or um I have a second question that's related to the budget but can we amend this if we decide hey this is we can tell this is making traction can we amend this >> board member here at Garcia definitely that that would be an option as we continue to think about the efficiency um
084and and as we see to your point um that turnover we definitely want to be able to and be flexible um and consider an amendment if needed. >> And then my second question, and I'll preface this with we should do this because this is the right thing to do to provide services for students who who have exceptionalities and need special services here. But in the TISA formula, if I'm understanding it, this is if if we do identify students who have characteristics of dyslexia, it adds 20% to the base or what is the percentage to the base under the unique learning needs? 20%. So if I'm doing the math of the base of 7,700, okay, is that close. There we go. uh 20% on top of that and you're talking about 4,000 student let's almost 5,000
085students you're talking about almost $8 million in our budget. This this is is one case where it's pays for itself. So but we are also probably going to capture additional students. So in this case, I wouldn't hesitate if if budget is the barrier, bring it to us to improve the experience for our kids, but also this is it's good business in this case based on how the state is allocating dollars. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Board Member McKis. >> So excited. Thank you, Chair. So, uh, Dr. Richmond, first of all, I want to say I'm very excited. Um there is been a constituent in our community, Mrs. Kelina Hunt, who has been championing this for so so long and um I I'm glad that I've learned had so much awareness over the years since
086I came onto the board and uh just the fact that we are finally at this point that needs to be celebrated and I know it won't be perfect and that's but we got to start somewhere and this is good that we are starting. So my question then is, you know, how at what point will you report back to say just where we are just even from, you know, like you've got your 100 day plan, how are we going to look at this to see how it's going? I know you won't have full information until some time out, but you know, is there going to be a timetable of reporting back of just checking on seeing how these students are doing with whatever we do uh approve if we approve it tonight? >> Uh board member
087McKisac, thank you for that question. It's a great question. Uh I think you should look to see us reporting out on it monthly as part of our SPL work. Uh this came out of the SPL work when we think about uh our strategic partners in literacy. Uh we're going to use this to support our students around literacy. And so I would just challenge the team as we do our monthly meetings and report outs uh that this become a dashboard item uh where we can either update the board or we can update uh those partners via that uh committee meeting. But we can also at any time as well bring before the board for work session or committee meetings uh information around how we're implementing this particular program. >> All right. Thank you. Can I move
088that we vote on this? More questions? >> Board member OT question. >> We can move. But I do I do want to thank I do want to thank you for that for the program and she already asked my question. I'm not going to ask any questions about that. Reporting back was my question. Want to give kudos to Landrea Owens who is my uh parent ambassador for Cordova. Also want to highlight some positives with the St. Juke partnership that's an awesome STEM program. Also the strategic literacy partnership excited about that with urban child institute and high family. And also I want to just thank all of our donors and supporters that are giving us those grants we're receiving to enhance our student learning environments. Now we can move >> vice chair love >> as someone who
089suffers from dyslexia. I am very pleased. Um, you have my full commitment and my uh vote. >> Thank you. >> Board member Murphy. Call for question. >> I move. >> Second. >> Roll call vote, please. Board member McKisik. >> I. >> Board member Garcia. >> I. >> Board member Porter. >> I. >> Board member Murphy. >> I. >> Board member Love. >> I. >> Board member McKini. >> Hi. >> Board member Otay. >> I. >> Board member Williams. >> I. >> Board Chair Coleman. >> I. >> You have nine in the affirmative. >> Thank you. That motion passes. >> I >> We're now on to the University of Memphis agreement. >> Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Dr. Whit Law. Uh, University of Memphis agreement. I don't see Miss going. So, Dr. Whit Law, >> what's
090wrong? Board member Otai. You said hold on. Oh, I'm sorry. >> Oh, I'm coming. Hold on. >> Thank you, Superintendent Richmond. So basically we want to bring the University of Memphis the clinical affiliation agreement. So we want to thank um definitely the team for working hard. Uh but I want to go ahead and just give highlights and also any different additional information. Tonight we want to bring this to the board to approve the University of Memphis school psychology affiliation grant agreement for the 25 through 28 school years. Again, this will provide University School psychology graduate students with supervised clinical training within Memphis Shelby County Schools. Uh just give you some background. The University of Memphis uh psychology affiliation agreement is a partnership again that allows the graduate students in the psychology program to gain supervised
091clinical experience with inside of our school. and students engage in activities such as psychological assessment, behavior intervention planning, counseling, and crisis support under the supervision of our licensed MSCS clinicians. So, on the next slide. So again, uh through the previous years that we've had this particular agreement, two graduate students were placed uh in the district during the 23 24 school year that helped to provide supervised mental health and behavior support services as well as both students successfully completed the program. No students were placed in the 2425 school year as we did not have a contractual agreement. So, we do want to bring this back because we do see the need as well as uh working alongside our partners uh to recruit students to the district. >> Thank you, board member Murphy. >> Thank you, Madam
092Chair. I have one question. Would this be an interference with them uh doing away with the DEI pro uh because recently they suspended it? >> Yeah. Bo board member Murphy, I don't think this would have anything to do with uh DEI. I think this is through uh the psychology department at the University of Memphis. >> Okay. I just wanted clarity on that. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Board member Hu Garcia, do we pay students? >> Let me get the We don't have for as far as internship. I know we do pay students through the special ed department, but I will make sure. All right, Donna, come on up because I want to make sure we get that question right. Thank you. >> Good afternoon, board members and superintendent. >> No, no, I want to
093pay. Oh, go ahead. >> Um, no, we we do not pay interns, unfortunately. We would like to, though. >> So, is this their full-time job? >> So, this is an internship. They'll be here um during their field placement where we will supervise them. They're only here maybe two days a week. Okay. they're in school and then part of their um education is to pro um receive those um supervised um work through with us in the district. >> Is it >> it's part of a graduate program? >> Yeah, it's is it part of like a practicum like >> it is a practicum placement? Yes. >> So probably the hours they need to receive. >> Yes. Well, generally I I think we I know they get credit, but there was a time when students were paid and
094that was I think that was cut from state funding. Uh I think we should if there's an opportunity to pay students, even if they decide to come work for us, a bonus or or something, I I think credit is not enough. I mean, I'm not going to hold this up, but I would if they want to come work for us in a area of which we need talent, uh, then we should think about stren strengthening that or creating some sort of system where they stay they stay within the district. Um, this is a I assume we have more open roles than we will have students. >> I'm leaning over to our HR. Uh and she noted that we definitely can look into tying that to their um when they uh become employees of Memphis Shelby
095County Schools. Yes. >> Something dealing with as they come on board as a hiring. >> So we can look into that. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. >> Was there some type of effect on us for not having this last school year? I always believe u and I'll let Donna answer this as well. I always believe that we definitely want to be part of this so we can recruit students to come work with us. So I would say Miss Coleman, we just want to definitely sell our sell our district, make sure that we have that opportunity. So I can't say how many students we may have missed uh through the graduate program on last year. Donna, can you answer? >> No, I'm not sure um how many we missed. We did not get the
096um contract approved because of the process. However, we do have affiliations with other universities. We had from Union University. We This is the graduate psychology program. We also have the school of social work programs. So, we did have social workers last year. >> You're welcome. >> Board member McKis. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, I'm excited about this. I've seen it in action in terms of the graduate students and working with young people and just um a lot of the graduate students are younger themselves and so it it really works out nicely how they uh connect with students. Um my question is so that we're not getting to getting into a situation where we have another year of lapse. How can we ensure that say next year that this becomes just an ongoing thing where we
097don't have uh these gap years like we had last academic school year. >> Thank you uh board member Kizick and Superintendent Richmond. I think that's a fair question. So the one thing that we are doing a couple things we're tracking our contracts and forecasting so we can make sure that we get those contracts to you earlier. Also I think what uh Dr. Richmond has uh pushed us is to make sure that and plus for the years it's 25 through 28 school years so we tried to capture the years as much as we could to make sure but even after that u making sure we forecast any contract or anyou that we need to have yearly >> question I have a motion second Please. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Motion by board member McKenna, second by
098board member Murphy. Roll call vote, please. >> Board member McKisik. >> I. >> Board member Garcia. >> I. >> Board member Porter. >> Hi. >> Board member Murphy. >> Hi. >> Board member Love. Hi. >> Board member McKini. I >> board member Otang. >> I >> board member Williams. >> I >> board chair Coleman. >> I >> You have nine in the affirmative. >> Thank you. That motion passes. We're now on to the Head Start. >> Head Start. >> Is that >> resolution? >> Yes. Um, this is a resolution, as I said before, as we shift from um, Head Start and we shift it over to Porter Leaf, we are required to shift all of those assets. And I'll let um, GC Bailey explain to you what this is in terms of just making sure
099that we make this um, as seamless as possible so that they can open doors next week. >> Thank you, board member McKenna. So, I'll read the resolution into the record first. um resolution to authorize interim superintendent to enter into temporary occupancy agreement. Whereas prior to July 21, 2025, SCBE was the Head Start program grantee and local education agency for the Memphis Shelby County, Tennessee geographical area service area for at least the previous two 5-year grant periods and in this role received federal Head Start program funds and real property for the purpose of operating the Head Start program. Whereas July 21, 2025, on July 21, 2025, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration for Children and Families, Head Start Program 42 USC 9081 45 CFR301 notified SCBE that Porter Leaf would be
100the Head Start program grantee for the 2025 grant period for the service area. Whereas an SCBE's role as incumbent Headstart program grantee effective July 22 2025 and Porter Le's role as the Head Start program grantee effective July 22 2025 SCBE and Porter Leath the parties have been participating and continue to participate in the fiscal and operational closeout and transition of the Head Start program service area grant the service area award which includes but is not limited to the transition of andor disposition of assets in the form of real property personal property previously acquired by SCBE with the approval of the Head Start program during the period it served as the grantee. Whereas SCBE and its role as the incumbent grantee and local education agency now desires to collaborate with and reasonably cooperate with Porter as
101the newly appointed grantee to allow access and use of said assets SCBE previously acquired in accordance with service area award to promote the continuity of the service area award and simultaneously allow SCBE as the incumbent grantee and Porter is grantee adequate opportunity to participate in the service area award transition process. Be it therefore resolved that the interim superintendent and or district staff, as the interim superintendent shall direct, is hereby authorized to enter into a temporary occupancy and use agreement on behalf of SCBE with Porter Leaf grantee, which agreement shall set forth appropriate terms to govern the use and occupancy of the real and personal property, which is anticipated to be subject to the transition of service area award uh described herein during the transition period. Be it further resolved that the board has approved entry
102into the agreement as described herein after review and substantive approval from the SCB office of general counsel and no further board action shall be required for the district to enter into the agreement for the purposes set forth uh in this resolution uh dated today and uh with signature line for board member McKenna. As board member bikini um summarized earlier, what this allows uh essentially is for Porter Leaf to go ahead begin operating um out of Coington Pike Head Start, Douglas Head Start, and Ridgeway Early Learning um center uh while the parties Porter and Memphis Shelby County Schools continue to work through the transition process making sure that um deeds are transferred and personal property and assets are transferred. um all property that was acquired with Head Start funds uh by Memphis Shelby County Schools. So,
103this will allow Portly to go ahead and and start operating out of those facilities beginning September 1 so that they can uh there's we can ensure that there's u no gap in services for Head Start services to those families and to make sure that we're um in compliance um with federal regulations. So, are there any questions? >> I'd like to sign on to this resolution. There being no further questions, may I have a motion and a second. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Board member here Garcia. Second by board member Murphy. Roll call vote, please. >> I apologize. Board member Mckistic. >> I'm her doubleganger. Board member McKisik. >> I. >> Board member Garcia. >> I. >> Board member Porter. >> Hi. >> Board member Murphy. >> I. >> Board member Love. >> Board member
104Mc. Board member McKini. >> I. >> Board member Otay. >> I. >> Board member Williams. >> Hi. >> Board chair Coleman. >> I. >> You have eight. Affirmative. >> Thank you. That motion passes. I would also like to sign on to the >> me as well. >> You know what >> I heard that >> res resolution for school board governance training >> board members. I'll quickly read this in uh whereas ongoing professional development and government governance best practices, fiscal oversight, strategic planning and policy development is essential for school board members to fulfill their duties and responsibilities effectively. And whereas the Shelby County Board of Education, the board recognizes the need for board governance training to strengthen its collective capacity and enhance individual member effectiveness. And whereas effective governance training is anticipated to advance student success
105by fostering a cohesive vision and measurable goals, clarifying board roles, aligning policies and annual district budgets with equitable and student focused objectives, enhancing community trust and engagement, and promoting sustainable governance practices. And whereas the board has received proposals and is prepared to select a provider that possesses the expertise and experience necessary to deliver highquality governance training. Be it therefore resolved that the board following an official vote selects and agrees to engage whoever we decide to provide board governance and training and requests the board chair to work with the general counsel to negotiate a contract with whomever we decide for such services in compliance with board policy and within the budgetary allocations for professional development on this blank day of um August 2025 Natalie J. McKenna District 2. If you recall, we talked about um I
106gave everyone we gave everyone all of the folks that had responded. Remember, we got two um proposals early in February for council great city schools um schoolboard partners. And then we subsequently decided we wanted to to to see if there were any other folks that we might want to look at. And I think that was K Shereé LLC, K12 Coalition, West Ed, and MGT. All of you have had an opportunity to look at that and I believe we h um we need to make a decision as to who we want to move forward with our governance training which includes goals, visioning and core beliefs and commitments. So I'll leave it open to that. >> Board member Murphy >> I want to see Murphy District 7 would like to sign on. >> Um someone tell me
107who would you I think council for great city schools. I'll make a council for great city schools has been working with us. They did the audit >> um and they worked with us on our board retreat and I think that um that would make sense and I think we all talked about that during the board retreat. So if there's if everybody agrees consensus >> I'm signed on now. >> You signed on? >> I'm signed on. >> Yes, she signed on. >> Board member Otai sign on. >> I'd like to sign on as well. Board member Huie Garcia. >> I like the suggestion of within the blank we add council of great city schools. Thank >> I do think the consistency is there. I also like the timing of this because we can govern ourselves and
108this this is a this is the right time to do that. So thanks for bringing this and you can add my name as well. >> I would like to second that about council gay city schools and add my name to it also. Vice Chair Love, >> I was beginning to feel like Michelle McKiss. Um, I want to sign my name to the resolution and I'm in agreement um of your recommendation. >> I do sincerely apologize. I did not see the light. Board member McKisik, I saw the light. >> I saw light. Thank you, chair. Um, so would it be appropriate, Dr. Schulz, to just we all signed on to this to make it unanimous as a board? How do you go about doing it? I want to sign on, but you know, >> go ahead
109and sign. >> Okay, there you have it. >> You all signed on. >> Everybody, >> may I have a motion in a second? >> So moved. Second. Motion by board member McKisick, second by board member Murphy. Roll call vote, please. >> Board member McKis, >> I. >> Board member Garcia, >> I. >> Board member Porter, >> I. >> Board member Murphy, >> I. >> Board member Love, >> I. >> Board member McKini, >> I. >> Board member Otang, >> I. >> Board member Williams, >> I. >> Board chair Coleman, >> I. >> You have nine in the affirmative. >> Thank you. That motion passes. Our last agenda item, resolution approving MSCS board member strategic school fund allocations for August 2025, $105,000, excuse me, $700. May I have a motion second? >> Motion second. >> Roll
110call vote, please. >> Board member McKis, >> I. >> Board member Garcia, >> I. Board member Porter. >> Hi. >> Board member Murphy. >> Hi. >> Board member Love. >> Hi. >> What? What is wrong with >> Board member McKini? >> Abstain. >> That's what I want today. I don't know what's wrong with y'all. >> Board member Otay. >> I. >> Board member Williams. >> Hi. >> Board chair Coleman. >> I. >> You have eight in the affirmative and one abstain. >> Thank you. That motion passes. There being no further business before this fight with meeting is adjourned. Thank you. [Music]