001e e e the March 10th 2025 Robertson County Schoolboard meeting will now come to order you would please silence your cell phones and electronic devices and join me in a moment of silence thank you would you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance stand salute pledge plge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all I like to say thank you to the Heritage Patriots for coming and join us this evening this time I'm going to let them say their name and what grade they're in I'm Emma Smith and I'm in sixth grade Alexander Armstrong fifth grade gron Green in fifth grade Cy Clayborn grade mine Williams third grade give them a round of applause
002Dr Weeks would you please read our mission and vision statements yes ma' our mission is to ensure that each student is prepared to succeed in life our vision is that we will enable all students to reach and exceed High academic standards with career standards while we employ and Empower them to succeed in a technologically advanced and a culturally diverse Society our ideals are that we improve culture and climate and that we are improving and improving the quality of our teaching and learning thank you uh board members you have in your packet uh consent agenda tonight with some items in it I'm sure you've had time to look over those what's your pleasure motion to approve second motion by Mr SS and a second by Mr rice all those in favor of approval make it known
003by saying I I oppose no motion passes 60 Dr weeks do we have any recognitions tonight board members we do not have recognitions tonight I would like to remind you that next month in our April board meeting we'll be recognizing all of our middle school students that have uh won or achieved something at the uh District level or above so we will have a large group of middle schoolers that our next meeting so uh we'll have an extensive time of recognitions then okay we'll move on to our Personnel report board members uh page 21 and 22 in your book labeled item 5 a I have our certified and classified retirement uh I'm sorry certified and classified Personnel reports uh we would like to recognize those individuals on page 21 who have announced their retirements affected
004the end of the year Miss Carly burn from tetum Park Elementary Miss Melinda bull at Heritage Elementary Melissa page also at Heritage Elementary and Miss FAA Murphy from East Elementary congratulate those four ladies for their work and we appreciate the high quality work that they have done for our school system you do see some resignations leaves of absence that have been approved and we do see some new hires we are also in the process of hiring staff for next year and uh We've we've been very productive at doing that our HR staff has been to several recruitment fairs and they are they're being successful there um we would also like to announce that we are having a career fair here in this office us on March the 25th from 1: to 6:00 p.m. that day
005uh that our principls will be here our staff will be here um that is for people who are certified and non-certified so we have positions as substitute teachers bus drivers cafeteria workers they will all be here along with our janitorial service so we're excited to have that opportunity and uh for our people who are uh licensed um we do have principles that'll be here interviewing and for people that have a bachelor's may not have a teaching license we're going to have some folks here from Austin P that can actually help them find out what it might take to get a teacher license so that's exciting it's going to be an exciting day and miss gy miss weeks and Miss Roberts have done a great job of setting setting that event up so we're we're looking
006forward to that uh page 22 you'll see the classified Personnel report and again uh leaves of absence retirements Miss Brenda Singleton from White House Heritage Elementary and Patriot friends and miss siil Wilson from Chum Park Elementary School you all see other resignations transfers reassignments and you see several volunteer coaches on that list okay are there any questions on the Personnel report okay we'll move on to our next item expense comparison report for members item 6A in your packet page 23 uh you'll see our comparison at the end of January 31st and you'll see our revenues at 80 and15 million or 57% of our budget our expenditures at 75.9 million 52% of our budget you'll see the comparisons the same period last year January of 24 uh you'll see that we are $4.5 million uh where
007we projected to be uh over the budgeted numbers again I would remind you that's not a pure $4.5 million fund balance Improvement because we did budget some in the red uh so actually we're pretty close to being even for the year so that's um what we would expect and very proud of those numbers thankful for our finance department and our close work with County finance as well property tax and sales tax are coming in positively you'll see property tax at 63% of the budget almost $ 12 million in property tax sales tax at 60% of the budget $10 million there expenditures that we track regularly the utilities salaries and insurance all in the 45 to 60% range uh all pretty good there um again we um we monitor those numbers carefully uh the supporting documents
008for all of our finances are found in your consent agenda and you're welcome to bring us questions at any time on those okay any questions on the expense comparison report our next item is a 20242 general purpose School funds budget amendment board members are actually two two budget amendments and we would like to separate those so we can carry them uh intentionally that way to the finance committee and to the budget committee on page 25 you'll see the first one and that is an operating transfer to our Capital outlays uh and that is again helping to take care of our HVAC uh through that transfer so it is a balanced budget amendment uh $79524 uh from uh transferring two funds to the capital outlay motion to approve thank second motion by Mr White second by
009Miss White any questions or discussion all those in favor approval make it known by saying I I oppose no motion Carri 60 okay for members the second budget amendment is on page 26 with carryover to the top of page 27 uh you will also see that's a balanced budget amendment uh in the amount of $3,525 uh we we had some Revenue come in from contributions and gifts and tuition you'll see those numbers totaling $3,525 uh we have allocated that to the appropriate line items and we've also done some cleanup of line items where um where we've seen that some numbers were either showing over budget or under budget uh starting to do some I hate to call it preliminary audit work but just kind of moving some things in some categories to to start bringing
010those numbers back into to uh where they need to be so you'll see those listed page 26 and 27 you'll see the uh red numbers are the numbers in parentheses for the numbers that we're deducting from categories moving those to the blacker numbers or with those without parentheses again it is balanced $3,525 and you'll see that zero balance on page 27 okay do we have a motion to approve this so moved Mr White I still feel like I need to say first name sorry I okay is there a second to that motion second make it easy second thank you Mr rice I ask a question about the the gift sir 25,000 are we allowed to know who that is or can we at least send him a thank you card that very nice yeah yeah
011let's send a thank you card anything else okay we have a motion in a second all those in favor of approval make it known by saying I I oppose no motion passes 60 next item is a school voucher bonus resolution board members on page 28 I would refer you to a proposed resolution that uh we have been told by the Tennessee School Board Association that would meet the requirements of the law to accept the 20 bonus per employee based on the action of the state legislature during their special session uh I'm not going to read the the Clauses but I will read the resolution Robertson County Board of Education affirms its intention to participate in section four of the education Freedom Act of 2025 relative to bonuses for teachers again during our planning session our
012study session today we've discussed the financial implications and potential implications that U might go along with this as that all of our licensed Personnel that have a license are not identified as features and there there may be financial implications this board would like to take uh relative to this your approval of this or your consideration of this resolution simply allows us to be in line with the state finance saying that we will accept the the the $2,000 per person that they identify as a teacher and and it's my understanding based on a letter that we've received from the commissioner of Education uh that there is the intention from the Department of Education and the governor's office to include um payroll taxes and other benefits that go along with that into this amount and again our
013our understanding is the earliest this money would be available would be in July uh but no guarantee that it would be dispers in July um after our consideration of that I would recommend approval and to work out the details at a later time motion to approve second motion by Mr rice second by Miss White any questions or discussion all those in favor of approval make it n by saying I I oppose no motion passes 60 next item is proposed date change for fall 2025 planning session board members I I know we approved an annual calendar of meetings uh at your December meeting and uh we had scheduled originally scheduled a planning session or a study session for you in October and after I've reviewed my calendar um I'm actually going to be unavailable that day
014and I would request that we move that back to the first weekend on October and also realized that I had a mistake on the dates of the first weekend uh of July I'm sorry of October I think I was looking at the wrong calendar uh that would be Friday and Saturday I think that is October 3rd and 4th instead of 2 and third so if you would check your calendars for that uh I think typically on Friday nights we've had some preliminary discussion um and dinner and then on Saturday we've devoted a lot of time to uh current topics relative topics that you'd like to discuss during that planning session in October okay do we have a motion to approve this proposed date change make a motion to approve second motion by Miss White second
015by Mr Josh White any questions or discussion all those in favor of approval make it known by saying I I I oppose no motion passes 60 Miss Miss hugan we will get that date corrected on all of our official calendars okay and we'll uh publicize and advertise that in those places that we do okay our next item is a bid tab number 1565 for a walk-in cooler and freezer for Springfield High School on page 30 of your packets labeled item 8A uh you will see uh we had four bids uh on the walk-in cooler and freezer at Springfield High School uh in reviewing those bids the top vendor uh did not include with their bid uh they did not meet the specifications uh so even though they're the low bidder of 36,600 they did not
016include the electrical connections and all the wiring and things that needed to be so um we believe that that would cost more internally to do that uh if we were to add those electrical services uh so my recommendation is that we go with the low bitter I'm sorry the best bidder singer H&R at $ 4,539 4539 26 and again that would be the best bid saying that the the top bid does not meet requirements it would cost more to install that uh since they did not meet those specifications we have a motion to approve second motion by Mr Jeff White second Mr rice was was that one company G to like put gold chefs in there really shot I don't blame wow uh is this for the CTE program or is this for the cafeteria
017this is CT okay good they did this they really did that's part of the ism Grant is that correct yes and if y'all ever get a chance to go them they they've done lunch for some of the events I've been there they do amazing work they do they do and for those that wondered what I talked about that the bid we accept or voted on is 40,000 somebody put in $110,000 for this same thing they they wow yeah really okay back to the motion we have a we have a motion and a second are we ready all those in favor of approval make it known by saying I I oppose no motion passes 60 next item is budget adoption schedu for members just wanted you to see the the the process that we go through
018in working with um with the county mayor's office with County finance office uh you'll see that Miss jod provides us a schedule of when she uh has budget committee meetings these are public meetings are open to the public I believe all those are either at 4 o'l maybe 4:30 I'll let you know if you're interested in attending those uh but you'll see when each department head um presents their budgets to the County Commission and you when schools are highlighted and projected to carry their budgets uh to the commission uh again she she has stated that uh I think she has us down for um 610 July 10th I'm I'm sorry June 10th I'm expected to present our final approved budget to the budget committee uh my goal would be to have you review that budget
019in May and then um that would be my expectation and I hope that will be our final proposal of the budget I think that's the schedule we were on last year you approve that in May and again we'll U we'll see what that looks like so did want you to have that in terms of a piece of communication just for your information and if you need some um if you'd like to participate in those meetings you're very welcome too um miss Connie if I may also under Communications uh there was a question during planning session today about uh our sub Institute service and so we do have some documents for you these are at the end of the school year from last school year so this is not this is not our current school year
020but these are some numbers that we looked at I think this is some information that miss galy and miss Kleiner had picked up for you and so um that may help you review some some information if you'd like to look at that know that there's anything really to discuss I think that just uh helps maybe answer some questions that you might have had and then also Miss Hogan on our um study session I did not have the opportunity to let you know that um or discuss very briefly uh our program that we have scheduled for Wednesday morning our state of the schools program that will be at White House Heritage uh that is going to be from 8 until about 9:30 so certainly we would love to have you there if your schedule allows um
021we have a group from coopertown elementary school that's going to be presenting The Pledge and doing some uh musical presentations for us uh I will give an overall review of our our year so far White House Heritage will be presenting a music uh musical selection uh we do have a video from our elementary schools which will highlight our elementary schools we have a video from our high schools highlighting our CT programming in our high schools uh we're going to have a current student that's going to speak about how he believes that Robertson County schills have helped him prepare for his next steps in life and we're going to have an alumna uh who's going to share what she thinks Roberts and Kenny schools did for her when she was in school um proud to announce
022she she took advantage of our school system um went to college has come back and has actually teaching for us now so she's going to talk about how uh the school system prepared her for that and uh and coming back so what was the date that is Wednesday White House Heritage we're going to have guests around back so I would encourage you to park around back if you know for sure you're going to make it um like to prepare for breakfast so if you'll let Miss tce know that she can add you to the uh breakfast list for that day and you did direct our schools report did you just go on and start well probably so sorry so some of that was you did some of that was Communications and some of that was
023left over um I guess the only thing left out of the director of schools report was uh we are heading into spring break week and we're uh a lot of excitement about that but there's a lot of work to be done amidst that um and then we also just wanted to to share with you we have our education committee meeting this week so our our commissioners that meet with us on a bonly basis uh we will be meeting at 4 o'clock this Wednesday in the room next door for the county the County Commissioners we're going to review um our legislative luncheon that we had a couple of Fridays ago we're going to review that with County Commissioners uh we had hosted education Robertson County day uh about a week and a half ago we're going
024share that information with commissioners um Miss Dickerson Mr Charles and I had an opportunity to participate in the National superintendent conference um last week so we'll share some updates from there uh the Commissioners also here about the state of the schools address and then the Commissioners and the education Committee of the Commissioners had asked that um that we prepare a spring School visit for them they participated in one in August I'm sorry October last year and so we're going to plan one for the 26th of March and certainly if you'd like to be a part of that or if you just like to join us for lunch if you'd like to do any of that uh I'll make room for you to do that uh it is March 26 I believe that's Wednesday or Thursday
025so we'll add you to that list if you'd like to and certainly you're welcome to attend that meeting if you'd like to join the Commissioners that afternoon Miss Hogan I believe that's all I have for both Communications and director's reports all right we'll move on to Old business does anybody have any old business that needs to come before us Ju Just A clarification I know this board had had directed us well old old business uh under old business I know the board had directed us to um look at building utilization space and had talked about some School zoning and um we shared that during our planning session this afternoon so if um if it pleases the board and the board wants to affirm those zoning decisions that that you've seen uh our goal would be
026to notify those parents um hopefully by the end of the week and then that would give them um three weeks three or so weeks to make decisions about whether they're going to um seek to provide their own transportation or whether they'll be um accepting the the rezoning and trans that would go along with that I know you had directed us to do that but it um if you want to formalize that memorialize that that might be good for our minutes if that if that is your pleasure so you're looking for a motion we do that in new business yes either I guess it's a little both and I have a question if we talked abouts would that need to come under new business Ro because if we don't if we don't make a decision one
027way or another what we want to do after this month you're locked in right so I mean tonight's a night okay unless you have a special call meeting right but I think we need to go back to the zoning okay first and then we'll have that is that okay I'm with you okay so the discussion is a motion to the zoning as they were presented complet completely in the in our planning session so there will be several schools affected not just the few that we were originally talking about that had some capacity issu so yes sir this is kind of countywide not just a specific Target which I in our initial my initial thought was you know the Clusters that are having capacity issues but we took it now to the entire County as an
028opportunity to reone some spots right is that I'm reading this thing uh essentially I I think there I think the discussion and and I know you were not at the meeting where the majority of this was discussed but it was to um kind of rezone the the Northwestern side of the County uh some buildings that were overcrowded and and um or at least at capacity I'm not going to say overcrowded at capacity um but in particular maybe taking some areas that are going to be very easy to move bus routes as well that um keep students in their Zone clusters rather than changing clusters we've had some students that would start in the Springfield cluster go to Cooper town then end up at Joe Burns and so we've cleaned up a lot of those things
029that uh that were intact uh but short answer yes sir it's going to address most every school uh but the the main focus was to address the White House cluster and some of the the inner parts of the Springfield clusters yeah I I mean there's always going to be something that's not perfect when you do these things but I think U the environment are in the areas growing and some not growing quite as fast I I don't know if we have much choice but to review this this may come up more often than has in the past as we go in the next several years sounds like this may be a a more common discussion than most of us would like but and it it it's it is a fix a temporary fix I do
030think at some point with the the rate of growth in our County I do think we're going to need to build some buildings and there may be may be additions and may be brand new buildings but um this will will temporarily take care of some of those issues um I think I stated earlier I don't know whether it's cheaper to build now or and with cost of building and everything going up it may we may find out it costs us to wait I don't know the answer to that um but um this will at least get some of our buildings back in capacity uh and utilize some spaces at some buildings that may have some under underutilized areas I'm motion to approve motion with Mr rice is there a second second second by Mr Jeff
031White any other questions or discussion I I did have one question of an area that I have not seen and at one time there was talk uh Dr Weeks about uh some homes over near the Legacy that we had kids going across County to Cooper town or we leaving that one the way it is did they they are as at present yes sir those at one time they talked about bringing those some of those kids uh to greenb to alleviate them from riding the bus from the East side of town all the way across to the west side of the county and as best I recall there was it was it was going to be easier from transportation to move some from the south side of Crestview into the greenber cluster because they're already zoned
032to greenber middle and greenber high school so I think I think some of those students were going to be just just just pulled from elementary school there okay I think the real fix for there is Springfield Middle School that's that's the real fix for there yeah because those kids at the Legacy are what two miles from Springfield High School yeah and maybe we need to be having serious conversations about that next month or so I agree but what we need to do for the future of the schools I don't think any rezoning is going to make sense until we have another spring I agree for this cluster I'm anybody else yeah we okay let's vote then all those in favor of approval make it known by saying I I I oppose no motion passes 60
033and if I may um what our intentions would be would be to share with uh with these families by the end of the week give them a deadline of the early April to let us know whether they're going to be providing their own transportation to the potential Zone based on the guidelines that you've given us which is that they remain in good standing Behavior attendance and grades at their um what would be a permissive school and then as soon as that those decisions are are finalized then our next move will be to identify schools that have seats for open enrollment and we'll post those school by school grade by grade who has room for open enrollment and then um we'll have forms that the that citizens May apply to to take those Lottery seats have
034we got a good way for to educate everyone in the county about this because I know it hadn't went out yet are we are we going to have something that's going to go out to say that this is the way it is and if you want to be a part of this and maybe go to a different School we're going to have a lottery we we do have those documents in draft stage I wanted to ensure that board was very good with the zones that we talked about tonight before we've done anything with that so that'll be our first first stage thank you okay now was there anything else in new business I think as Jeff kind of alluded to maybe I just Dr we can share some additional budget maybe topics or maybe an
035overview of where we may stand that way the board decide I don't know what we have to do other than maybe have to call a special meeting if we need to about um the deadline coming up on me what is that deadline is it the 31st I think it's 90 days before I'd be I'd be I'd say the 30th just to make sure we're not getting in accounting contest and I don't know if you'll have enough enough information of how the I mean I know it's hard it's kind of early that like our budget may have some challenges this year or we're looking good I just I just would like to have that decision um and I don't know if there's there's notice can be given and then withdrawn I don't know how that contract
036is written um in other words we can issue notice and then do we have the option to withdraw that at a later date is that an option know some contracts you can issue that we're canceling issu of canceling based on AV and C however if that doesn't pan out we can continue on with our contract I just don't know how the word is wording is in that contract so but i' like talk yeah I mean could could I suggest do youall have any availability during the day if we were to have a session around lunch or is that too complicated no I don't be hard for me to answer that was looking at maybe the 24th or 25th we we could do Monday or Tuesday that's I said I can't get away in do that
037okay okay I'm good any any evening Char get as early as for I don't think it' be a long discussion I just think it'd be worth I I just don't want to have a surprise after the deadline that we could have fixed something um 24th we do have a County Commission meeting that night if we could if we could do a 4 4:30 so that we ensure that we be out in time for County Commission uh like that we could advertise that as a special session 24th if that please the board yeah I think that would be I mean I if and if you got information to us you know before then it would probably help absolutely because I mean if it's if it's the best thing since sliced bread that's wonderful I just don't
038see it and I don't hear it again maybe a punitive value for not filling spots could something more okay okay so 24th at what time 4:30 everybody okay 24th at 4:30 yeah okay that's what we'll do then and I will U Miss Gia will be back in town this week so I'll make sure that she has some information as well as I'll make sure that you get the the information that we've requested and we can probably get it up date on the document that was just sent around and at least you'll have time to review that as well okay that would be good is there anything else under new business I saw the calendar we had out a while ago was a good calendar but it doesn't say when we're going to try to have
039budget meetings ourself if you got any idea on while we're put in the calendar um unless there's a need to Mr White I think we have a special call session on April the 14th again at 5:30 and then we have another on May 12th I think that's what we did last year unless there were particular questions that that if we ran into any problems or conflicts we might want to start earlier than 5:30 especially on the first one I think mean other board members what you think I can do 4:30 4:30 on April the 12th April the 12th or 14th I'm sorry 14th yeah that's probably County Commission but does that matter to you is that not County Commission but does that matter to you you didn't maybe it's not that's that's regular board s
040okay you're right okay okay are we done now I don't know we'll get both those meetings adverti yes okay okay all right uh are we ready for board comments members comments Mr rice you want to start U yeah first on personal note I'd like to just you know thank everyone for their prayers and thoughts you know lost of my father it was unexpected and got here in the little pile was still here from the last meeting I hated I had to miss the meeting but I appreciate the prayers and they're felt and appreciated um and look forward to next week spring break and to the folks that you know on the zoning you know it's not easy uh when we start sending those letters out it's not something we enjoy doing but as we look
041at asking taxpayers for funds to build another school I think it uh is wise for us to make sure we're utilizing the buildings that we have um not going to please everyone but I think in the end when you're ask for taxpayer dollars you just have to utilize the resources that you have so I think it's going to be more common in the future and it has been in the past so I think it's just kind of just part of it so enjoy next week Mr I just want to say hope everybody has a good spring break well deserved and everybody uh rest up and have a good time well I want to kind of echo that I hope everybody has a has a great spring break I don't know if that affects y'all do
042y'all get some time off oh but things will be different and calmer maybe that week anyway and I just had this on my mind and I just want to say a special thank you to that so many of the teachers that that I hear of that that kind of go that extra and then they um not just coaches but FFA and uh the CTE and the beta but so many of our teachers that just uh go over and above in schools that that's amazing that uh they're not just teaching they're just living it their their whole life and just want to say a special thank you I've seen a lot of neat FFA picturers and awards and things so just want to say a special thank you and that's all I've got I can't say
043anything else cuz Connie's afraid I'll start another meeting you've done enough for tonight okay sorry no no uh thank you all for the great job that y'all do each week I love our teachers and our staff and uh let's take good care of the students students hopefully while we're out for a week maybe someone could clean the schools real good so that maybe some of the sickness will be gone when they come back Mr White we almost got out of here it was still daylight I can't well it was because of Chef we didn't my alarm yeah I L it I loved it yesterday afternoon but when my alarm went off this morning I was dragging me too um I'd imagine our students were probably feeling the same this morning I know I know my
044kids weren't um I don't really have anything if you're traveling next week be safe and just thank you'all for all you do Miss con I want to add on uh Elie's Junior Beta group at Joe mer Middle School uh went to uh State uh competitions and they either won every single project they did or the one they didn't win they qualif they still qualified to go to Nationals in Orlando so like on several different teams so I'm proud of them that's great job so you're going to Disney we going to Disney got your deal we're also fundraising for that okay um you know I just want to say of course y'all know me here here goes first grade teacher but uh I had an opportunity last week during read Across America to go to several
045schools and read uh but I just want to tell you real quick about one that I did uh at Woodall it was a first grade class and the book was a Cat in the Hat book and it was if I ran your school you know and so it told what the cat and the hat would do if they ran their school so when I got through now these were first graders you know and they read talks I said you know who runs your school and one of them right away said well miss West you know and that's the teacher it was the teacher and I said yeah that's right she does and who else runs your school well the principal runs you know I said yeah yeah that's that's great does anybody else and one
046little boy said you cannot forget the SRO officer and I said you're absolutely right the SRO officer helps run the school too so I thought that was kind of neat that they brought in those different you know different people but anyway um I hope everybody has a great spring break I know y'all deserve some time off these teachers and principals and well the kids too so you know everybody just enjoy it okay meeting is adored e for