001the meeting with a brief moment of silence or prayer and the pledge of allegiance to the United States flag. No one is required to participate or be present for any of these and being in this portion of the meeting is completely voluntary. Tonight's prayer and pledge will be led by Mr. Stan Bott. >> Ms. Maxwell. >> Yes. >> For Mr. Bott, I'd like for us to remember the family of Greg King. He's the uh SRO for brother kind of for a long time. Very special young man. Um His brother Joey King was my SRO at Oakland. And uh I don't see any way it could ever get any better than what Joey was. And Greg was the same type of guy. So, I just like to remember his family. He had Um just remember him
002in this tonight. >> Thank you, Mr. Bott. >> Somebody got it very appropriate. He's a good fellow. Please join with me in a moment of silence, personal reflection, or silent prayer. Dear heavenly Father, we ask that you hear our prayers, that you know our concerns. We ask for patience, understanding, and wisdom, but most of all, please grant us peace in the next 2 weeks. I think we all need it. We ask all these in your most precious name. Amen. >> Amen. >> I pledge allegiance >> to the student flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> First off, I'll give everyone a moment to look over the approval of the agenda. Just take a look at
003it. See anything you want to question or add to? >> Oh. >> Yes, Mr. Bott. >> Th- This is kind of off the subject, but I'm going to ask this question or at least try to get the discussion started. It I was going through the supplements and all that kind of stuff with the coaches and everything that goes on. And I know most of those, if not all of those, are paid through each individual school through their operating funds or whatever. But it made me stop and ponder. Uh and this might be a Dr. Sullivan, this might be your question or might be a Brian question. Do any of the schools, I know some of the improvements that each one of them have made over the years are on depreciable items. And and I guess
004first one that comes to mind is the AstroTurf that's been installed on different fields. Are we encouraging uh any of the schools to um as as my father and grandfather would say, lay back some money for when those surfaces uh expire or wear out? What is there a policy that we've developed here over the years? >> There's not a policy other than the funding to replace is strictly on the schools. And that was upfront when those were put in place was that funding had to come from the schools and how they see fit to do that is up to them. Am I concerned about how that's going to come to fruition? I am. Uh I think the thought about putting it in policy as most of these are funded from outside boosters, they do run
005through our books. >> Right. >> We could definitely have that discussion. I don't know how we would I don't know. Mr. Running, anything you want to add to that? >> And and and not to put you I know this kind of off-wall, but it just you know, we're fit we're in the middle of budget season. We're going to come up. This is a long-term problem. Could be a problem. >> We're probably three or four years away from >> It could be a problem, and I just want to if if if there's something we can encourage different schools to do. >> As of right now, I mean, just knowing from some of the facility fees and things that they collect, most likely it's not being stored back to be able to pay for >> Okay. >>
006deferred maintenance on these projects. So, um it is something that should be highly encouraged, I do believe. But as of right now, I'm going to guess that the majority of the schools do not have the funding to pay for these large amount of projects. >> Something we we just Something we probably need to encourage them. I might miss the boat. You got a 10-year lifespan on these surfaces. And it takes a million right now probably to put them on, and by the end of 10 years, the cost wouldn't surprise me if it didn't double. >> Right. And And I think that's what was in the back of my mind. I'm all for these coaches getting supplements. That's not what I'm talking about here, but I I know we I know human nature is this way,
007that if you see a great big pile of money somewhere, it's easy to Yes, that's okay. Let's spend it on that. I don't know if y'all's household runs like mine and Terry's does or not, but we, you know, every now and then, yeah, we'll we'll go do that. And then, sure enough, as soon as we spend that money, we wish we had it cuz the heat and air unit will go out, or we got to have a roof on the house, or something like that. So, anyway, I I don't know. I'd like to have I don't want to dominate the meeting tonight on this, but at some point in time in the next six months, could we bring that put that on the agenda and get through I think when we get through this budget
008year, maybe let's bring it up at all except July or something when we're a little slower. How about that? >> That's great. And Now, bring it up to We have a principals meeting our monthly principals meeting on Wednesday. And so, I'll bring it up to our high school principals to go and start thinking about like what is I'm sure they all have a plan, but what is their plan? >> What is their That's what I'd like to know. And And if they can learn we can learn what the plan is if they can help each other with what their plans are, it may keep us from having a stumbling block 4 years 10 years down the road. Thank y'all. >> Yeah, that's very good. I was actually told that the booster clubs were putting back
009money, but I haven't seen anything in writing. So, but that's a good good point. >> Well, you know, if if it cost $2 million 10 years you know, then you need to be putting up 200,000 each year. Set back. >> Yes. >> And when you look at it from that standpoint, somebody better get on the stick cuz it'll be on it before you know it. >> Mr. Tipple. >> Yeah, Dr. Sullivan, can you give us an idea what that's going to cost? I mean, we're speculating here, but you said first one's coming up 4 years from now. Is that Blackman? >> Roughly should be. They were the first one, and that's just totally a guestimate. I haven't gone and I haven't had a um just a check to see how worn out theirs is. Um
010I know that they were 10 years is their life cycle if they're not used other than for the sports they have at the school. But one of the great things for us is that we allow community use. And so, that's definitely going to lessen the lifespan a little bit. But I'll have to get um from each school kind of where they're thinking lifespan wise, but that'll be part I'll add that to our principals meeting agenda. >> Thank you. Moving on to the consent agenda, is there anything else that you'd like to bring up take a look at add to? Okay. Next, moving on, we uh don't have any speakers tonight, but we do have um the RCS difference ACT recognition. >> We have several and we just have them under speakers. It really should be
011under the RCS difference, but since we have a presentation to the board and then charter school information, we put it under speakers so that the students didn't have to stay here for 45 minutes instead. Well, they're more than welcome to stay here if they want to, but um Dr. Martin's going to lead us in recognizing our perfect score ACT students. >> Good evening. So, I'm honored to talk to you tonight about some of our most accomplished high school academic students. So, as an elementary principal, there is nothing like the very first day of school and watching a 5-year-old in their first day of school as a kindergartner. As a high school administrator, I can tell you there's nothing like the last day of school and watching those 12th graders walk across that stage. Try not
012to get sentimental. Got one this year. Watch them walk across the stage after 13 years of hard work. And as an 18-year-old, when you've invested 13 years of your life, that is more than all of your life almost and that's everything that they remember from being that kindergartner to their um and so it is just such an honor to recognize these students tonight. In Rutherford County, we have 21 perfect ACT 36 scores. That is a composite. That's not just for one section of the test, but is that's the entire test in its whole. These students, after talking to them, um some of them did this on their first time. Some of them took it three or four times. Um no matter what, it took um perseverance, determination, and lots of grit and preparation the past
01313 years to get to this test. Um I always explain it to parents, this is the Super Bowl for these students. And so we are so honored that we get to recognize them tonight. So they will be recognized at their schools and their individual graduations as well. Um but we wanted to give them just a little something from the board to recognize their achievements. So I'm going to turn it over to Dr. or Mr. Evans to say their names. >> Dr. Evans. >> Doctorate of something for sure. Useless knowledge. Uh so thank you, Dr. Martin and Dr. Solomon for asking me to do this. This is always great to be able to celebrate our students. Um Dr. Martin has a senior graduating this year. She gets very weepy, so we won't bring that up. I
014have a junior who's right behind hers. I'm hoping he's on this list next year. So uh happy to do this. Uh I hope that I can say all of these names as close as possible as to what they are. But uh I'm from a very small town that has a southern accent, and so I screw things up. So please bear with me. If I mispronounce your name, it's not intentional, I promise. Our first one is Jonathan Timothy Ryan Bell. I got that one. AND THIS IS AND UM JONATHAN IS FROM CENTRAL Magnet School as are the rest of these. Uh I'll read the other schools when we get there. Van Doyle Breedlove. Ethan Andrew Bright. Wylan Maeve Koh. Evan Gibson Elizabeth Joy Holsman Jaden Clara Johnson Yoi Kyeong Jim Anirudh Datta Kundakula All right. Grayson
015Lin Alasdair Ross McCarroll Jacob Gregory Prikryl Austin Henry Schafer Rath Andrew Ryan Smith I got that one. All right. Carson J. Strader Aidan William Strickland Rachel Lee Swecker Karunya Vadithya Benjamin Zeng Zhao Hey, and then from Eagleville School David Harrison And from Siegel High School, Isabella Jordan. If you guys would join me, we're going to go right out in the lobby here and do a photo for everyone that's here. Congratulations. >> Hope we're all going to MTSU. >> Hope a few are going to wear the orange and white. >> He was. He what? >> I saw it. >> Uh so I wondered about the smile. And I'm while we're doing this, I'm changing chairs. I'm not going to shrink the entire time. I started noticing as we were talking, I started noticing I just kept
016going do do do do do do. I was like this is going to feel awkward the entire I'm going to present the budget over here and just keep shrinking as the numbers go down. So >> If the political luck No, what we do before the board meetings, we swap >> Which chairs to see what Yeah, well it was me >> Better get here early to get the good seat. >> I was the last one in here. That's what happened. >> That's right. >> Next >> Yes. >> Snooze you lose. >> Yep. >> Next we have Mr. Kyle Carter who is here to present his thesis from Central Magnet School to our board. I was not there young man, but I heard it was very impressive and I'm glad you could come and present to us
017tonight. >> Thank you so much for having me. Get it set up real quick. >> While he's getting set up, this is a very interesting topic that ought to be interest all every board member. So, it's going it's going to be really good. So, thanks for coming. You help us out making our decision. >> Well, thank you all for having me. Um hopefully everything's interesting, but it's also kept factual. Um I understand this is a pretty complex and definitely not controversial topic, but I try to be the sequel to other students who presented to the board at the very beginning trying to air on the more side of being factual and saying, well, this is what we thought would happen and this is what actually happened. I just ask the board, if you remember two
018things from my whole presentation, remember first the main idea that I'll get into a second and my three recommendations. Everything else, it's filled with different personalities and different quotes, but those two things are the main idea. Like I said, our main idea is going to start out with what if we're wrong about phones, but I think everyone knows I'm standing here we are wrong about phones. So, that's more of a statement rather than a question because I don't think anyone could say all the way back in 2007 when we first had the first iPhone that we thought this was going to happen or we had AI because we just didn't know what was going to go with phones. Now, I don't say we're wrong as the board is wrong and I don't say we're wrong
019as the students are wrong and I definitely don't say we're wrong as the teachers were wrong. I mean, we as a county because we as a county are responsible for our students' education and if we are wrong about phones, we as a county need to own up to it and try to fix it. Now, this is Tennessee state law, and I'm not going to touch on it too much because state law is state law. However, this is Rutherford County policy, and a couple different things I want to move on and speak about first is the word stored on the very first line. That's going to be where wireless communication devices, so long as such devices are stored and not in use, students may possess. Now, the name of the game for laws and policies is
020killing vagueness because vagueness causes conflict. And I asked the board, if we say stored, what do we mean by stored? Do we mean in our in our pockets, in our backpack? Do we mean on the desk, do we mean in the desk? That kind of vagueness causes conflict between both the teachers and students because we're looking at having two different interpretations and having every teacher with their own interpretation, which then causes issues down the road. Moving on, I'm not used to one numbers, I'm not one to use numbers, but the biggest one I want to say is 14%. And you're looking at me probably like, why did he just put 14%? But, 14% is how many students are satisfied with our school's phone policy. You may ask why that is so low, and I'd say
021that vagueness causes conflict, and that conflict comes in statistics. Now, these are not questions that I pulled straight out of thin air. This is from the Stanford TAS program that's called Toolkit for Assessing Schools. That was created by Dr. Jonathan Haidt, the same person who made the laws based off of research that our policy reflects. Now, Mr. Haidt said that policy was going to have overreach because policy is not one-size-fits-all. What happens in Nashville is not going to happen in Rutherford. What happens in Rutherford is not going to happen in Knoxville. We can't have a blanket policy because it doesn't work. So, he created, joint with Stanford and NYU Stern, the Toolkit for Assessing Schools. And essentially, that asked questions that we're able to use every single year to better our phone policies so we
022can better our students. And that study really found that implementation was our killer. It wasn't necessarily the phone ban itself because phone bans are good. They drive up grades and they drive down inefficiency. However, there's some caveats to that. This is what general good implementation should look like. You have your where, your what, and your stages. Where is obviously in Rutherford County Schools, and what can be a couple different things. You could have a policy like the phone ban, and then you can have policy like the metal detectors. So, there's metal detectors that we started both in the same year at the same time. On top of that, Rutherford County policy implementation is kind of like driving a car. And this is a Rutherford County student driving his very first car. Normally, just like driving
023a car and with good implementation, everything's good. Everyone's happy, and we all know where we're going with one good direction. Now, that's only because we started we set our goals, and then we eased into it. We went from zero to 60. Now, compare that to what normal policy implementation with the phones looked like. We went zero to 100 at the very first day, and then changed past three times. I can count no less than three times we changed policy on personal devices the first day of its implementation. What that causes is chaos for students and teachers and admin alike. Why? Because poor implementation leads to students not understanding the most recent updates in policy because that recent update happened in an email that they never saw 15 minutes ago. Now, what does that chaos cause?
024That causes students to perceive staff and other Rutherford County employees enforcing a school cell phone policy unfairly. I said I'm not one for statistics, but another number I'd love for you to look at is 20.5 20.5%. That is how many percentage of students say 0% or never is a policy implemented correctly by Rutherford County employees. Compare that to what Rutherford County employees believe they are enforcing their policy fairly. You see 40% say they're almost 70% complacent in allowing for a fair policy. Now, that's not just a statistic that has no correlation. Because we were vague and because we had poor implementation from the start, we have teachers and students who both believe they have two different uses of a policy and two different interpretation. That further causes conflict and has so many students being written
025up purely because implementation was poor. Now, these are couple different challenges that teachers face while they are implementing and enforcing the phone policy. First off, we have students in the hallway that they don't know their names, which is a common thread between many teachers. We have so many students in Rutherford County, we can't put names to faces quick enough. Now, the next one I want you to look at is knowing whether or not it's been approved to use for educational purposes. I had a couple different teachers come to me and say, "We don't know what's approved and what's not approved." And I actually suggested a spreadsheet by school that admin approves. And lastly, the key words I want you to look at is at the very bottom where it says, "Students fell in line easily
026after that." It's coming from a teacher. The only other time I've heard that is coming from a prison, where a prison warden says, "Prisoners fall in line." But our teachers are educators. We shouldn't be using that kind of language when we're talking about our students. We should be building up and educating them, not policing them. Because a byproduct of policing students leads to quotes like this. Where a student had to call their mom because they were sick, but the front office wouldn't let them because they didn't believe that student needed to call. Well, I'd argue managing student health is both in Rutherford County policy and brother in Tennessee state law. However, because of poor implementation, both student, teacher, and office staff didn't understand that that student should have been allowed to use their phone or
027personal device to contact their parent. That hurts students and then causes that next student who's sick to say, "Well, my teachers and staff members aren't going to let me call my parents. I should just break policy, causing more conflict. Like I said though, this is not all bad. I agree with the phone ban. Some classes are less inefficient. It's only causing lack of communication. Grades are going up like I said, and teachers are reporting that there's less phone-related behavior. There's less phone-related related issues, and there's just less phones in general. People are talking to each other. One other thing teachers were saying is they had a lack of positive admin interactions with staff after this phone ban went into place because of how much conflict was being created between both admins and teachers because now
028teachers are on edge, they're going to get caught and punished for students being on their phones. Compare and contrast that with what admin is saying. They say they helped with personal interactions. However, teachers directly contradict that. And lastly, admin is saying that state policy is very pleasing. While I would agree that many agree with the policy, I'd argue that even admin doesn't know that it's not state policy, state law which dictates a policy. State law only dictated that a board must create a policy. It did not dictate that students may not use their phones. It's a clear misrepresentation and miscommunication that leads to more conflict. Another miscommunication that can be found especially in social media is actually from our own board members that are posting saying only phones have been banned bell to bell. Now,
029I pulled this in March. However, this same comment is in March when we started in August with this. Now, if we have school board members not understanding that personal devices that have a wireless communication are banned, we can't expect admin and teachers to do so as well. But on top of that, if we don't have admin and teachers following what policy Rutherford County puts forth, we will have students who don't follow policy as well. I was sent a couple different anonymous pictures after my thesis, a couple of which with teachers with 30-minute phone calls or admin and principals at other schools posting students on their TikTok pages with the caption hope your day gets better shut the f up in reference to their student getting expelled. Those same pictures are currently live and they're actually
030on reels on multiple different places. I had one student and it's a direct quote of saying teachers who don't have their phones out during class but for emergencies are teachers who don't have conflict in their classroom. Why? Because if they follow it, students are going to follow it more of the time. But if you have teachers posting and you have teachers on their cell phones, you're going to have students say, "Well, if that teacher admin's not following my policy, what are we going to do?" Because those same teachers in black who were upset with the student in yellow using their phone are probably the same teachers hiding their phones behind their clipboard and they're using it in their off time. Further, there's a couple different posts from different substitutes and teachers who are saying mixed
031reviews saying that policies are hard to enforce like this and they're saying that they don't have these issues. Now, I understand it's state law, but there's a couple different things we can do because we can always adjust a policy to be more compliant with state law. Currently, Rutherford County policy is more strict than state law mandates. State law requires during instructional time, Rutherford County policy dictates bell to bell. Now, I end this and I wanted, like I said, to dedicate about a third of my presentation to what do we do? Because this was not meant to be a argument of saying everything is wrong. It's well, here's some issues, here's how we fix it. So, I structured and told the people I was presenting to to draw a line through the paper if they're taking
032notes. Why? Because that blank space under the line means we need to draw a new slate. We need to act like this policy was never in place and implement it again next year. And what we're going to do to fix the issues that we have is a tiered system. Everything can be given right here, right now, and everything can be implemented starting Thursday. So, for first, we have office spaces designated as emergency contact zones. The board already pays for a pass system that every student uses on their computers. Why not add a section at the office, no questions asked, where students can be tracked how much time they're using by day to use their phone to text or call for emergency purposes. Emergencies don't normally take more than 5 minutes, and if we have that,
033then we have less students getting written up for responding to their parents or work's emergencies. Second, allowing students to have their phones during lunches and study halls is a common threat, especially in Wilson County and Williamson County. This is something they did. Why? Because, just like a job, students are allowed to have breaks. Just like Rutherford County employees able to have their planning period and their lunch, they're allowed to use their phones during that time and any personal devices in the same way. Why are we treating students as if they don't have a job, which is school, and we're controlling what they do when they're supposed to be A, talking to their friends, or B, studying on their own? If a student wants to listen to music during non-instructional time, being study hall, I don't
034feel, and the facts dictate, that students should be allowed to use their phones, their music, their personal devices. And lastly, most importantly, we need to create a feedback loop. Just like I started with this presentation all the way back in August, we need to create a feedback loop for students. If we're going to start with a blank slate, we need to ensure that we're able to come back next year and say, "This is what worked and this is what didn't work." Because the main goal about a policy is not unplugging Rutherford, it's plugging in Rutherford to technology, it's plugging them into the real world, and it's plugging them into being functioning members. And with that, I want to thank everyone for meeting me with my presentation. I'd love to answer any questions everybody has. >>
035Thanks, Mr. Charles. >> Thank you. Um thank you so much. Um we were actually invited to attend your uh presentation at Central High School and Mr. Vaught and I we were there and we were very highly impressed and pleased with your presentation. So thank you for coming. One thing that I said there in front of the students I will say here is that I know many have not participated with scope but scope is a really good conference to attend and see kind of the action happening with students are actually trying to implement policy. So going through that and hearing your presentation has made me want to say and look into why not create that what you're talking about the feedback pool tool of some sort of where we allow our students provide feedback of when
036it comes to policies that we're thinking about implementing whatever wherever they are in the stage but I think it's it'll be I think it behooves us if we have some sort of method where our students can speak into and provide feedback about policies or maybe there is a policy that they think that we should have that we didn't think about whatever idea that they can get involved in in that process a little bit. >> Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, Mr. Vaught. >> I'll make I'll make this comment I told Kyle this when we were over at Central. I didn't ask him to come and I appreciate y'all allowing him to speak before us. I thought it was a very articulate argument or presentation. It was very thoughtful and it being his senior thesis I
037thought well what better people to present it to than us. I I didn't ask him to come here to rehash all this cuz I know it was tough on all us and not to burn Dr. Sullivan or the staff or anybody you know what we did but it gave me pause after I left there and this was the best thing that came out for me Kyle is it made me understand as a board member there is a disconnect between us and the students we serve. And sometimes that needs to be you know, I'm I know we're the adult in the room, right? You know, we have to make those decisions, but I think if we had uh maybe different information or better information sometimes it it might be a different outcome or the policy might
038be different. And the final thought was I told Kyle, I said when he runs for US Senator, I'm I'm in. I'm he's he's very articulate. I want I'd send him to Washington to represent me right now. Anyway, Kyle, thank you for doing this and thank you to the board for allowing him. >> Thank you. Thank you all for >> Mr. Tittle >> Ms. Maxwell >> Yeah. >> Uh Kyle, I got a question for you. You said in lunch and study halls, thank you for coming. >> First off, you know, it's challenging to come here and speak for a board and put the presentation out there, especially when there's differing opinions on it. So, appreciate you coming up. Um but you said lunch and study halls should be open for cell phone use and you said
039the facts dictate that. What facts dictate that? >> So, actually um I emailed my thesis to all of you, which uses a Likert scale, which measures student well-being. And essentially students are continuously saying that yes, they're talking to their friends more often, but they're also not getting communications from their outside friends at other schools, their parents, and their other co-workers. And for those students that maybe their family relies on that income stream that they provide, their bosses aren't able to get a hold of them. And lunch is being at the very midpoint of the day provides a area for students to be able to check their phone, look at what their boss says, or what their mom says, and also connect with those students that are at another school, which then includes and improves social
040well-being. >> Do you think the overall benefit outweighs some of the harm that goes along with that? Cuz as you mentioned, there was academic performances upgrade, uh relationships have gotten better. So, in your studying, you mentioned that as being a positive. And of course, there's always going to be some negatives as well. So, which one do you think outweighs the other? >> I think student well-being outweighs test scores. Um I think if we are increasing test scores but having students not having a good mental and social life, they're not going to be prepared for the real world because you can have, just like we had, perfect 36 AT- ACTs, but if you're not able to speak to people and communicate via cell and face-to-face, of course, but if you're not able to communicate and you're
041being told 24/7 what to do and not have a space to express yourself, you're not going to be successful in the real world. >> I think it's interesting. Look, and I I'm not pushing back at you directly. It's just an interesting topic to talk about just because the face-to-face interaction, that social part of relationship building, is probably to me has a lot more weight than even the the contact we see like on social media and stuff. People say stuff on there they wouldn't say face-to-face because of the difference in relationship. So, I think that's if if you see the I'm going to say the millennials past, a lot of us look at the generation below that didn't grow straight with cell phones the whole time, and we think that there's a disconnect between that relationship
042building. Um so, it's just an interesting back and forth between a student's perspective and the board's perspective. I enjoyed the presentation. Um I think the one thing that you didn't mention that I fully agree with 100% is implemen- implementation is key. If it's not implemented, then it doesn't matter. If one teacher's doing it one way and another teacher's doing it another way and the policy says that it's to be done this way, then that looks very unfair, especially for students that happen to land in a class that is getting a little more freedom than one that's, you know, a little bit stricter. So, I think that's something very important to to look at. Um you're I I like got your three points marked down here. So, we'll look at those as we move forward, but
043some interesting ideas and thoughts. I just wanted to push back a little bit. >> Perfect. >> Dr. Sullivan? >> Yes. >> I have a question for you. Thank you. >> Um Thank you so much. >> Perfect. >> Um seeing this um presentation has made me got my wheels turning a little bit. Um do you think that we could is Don't have to answer now, something that you can think about. Um do you think that we could look into using the cell phone as an incentive? For example, let's say that the class in elementary school did very They They hit some kind of goal. And because they hit a goal, they can have a a time where they can be on the phone or something like that. Like could could we look into Is that something
044that we can look into and looking at um the beha- the cell phones being used as incentive for hitting some kind of goal for each school for each grade band cuz it'll be different for middle and high school. >> for each grade band. I'd like to talk to our principals cuz they'd be the ones most impacted by anything like that. >> Mhm. >> And of course it'd be up to the board to change our >> Absolutely. >> policies as well. I know that student perspective may not love it. From a teacher and admin perspective, I think we've we've enjoyed it. Uh I'd say enjoyed cuz we expected it to go south and we've been much more successful than we anticipated. >> Yeah. And And I will be honest um and I appreciate the the the
045feedback, but um I had a lot of teachers called and complained before the cell phone usage of the the the battle they they were experiencing in the side of the classroom because the students were too glued to the phone and not really wanting to pay attention. And um and I'm not I don't want to speak other issues that were resulted out of that. So, that kind of eliminated all of that. All of those issues have been gone. Um but at the same time, hearing the students and and seeing that, you know, it it is it was it's too it's strict. Sometimes when you like I don't know, maybe if we can have some flexibility in looking into this >> do like during pep rallies and that different types of things. We do allow them to
046have them during the day. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah, we do allow that, all right. >> Okay, great. I didn't know you allowed them >> during pep rallies and things like that. So, there is some little bit of a wiggle room there. >> Okay. Yep. >> comments or questions? Thank you very much, young man. It's very impressive. Moving on, Dr. McCann and Mrs. Walters are presenting the Rutherford Prep Charter School Application Committee Review. >> Dr. McCann, welcome to what always happens to me when I go over the budget. Everybody leaves. >> Personally. >> I don't blame them. Everybody leaves. They did. It always happens to me about budgets. I'm glad it's not me this time. >> Well, I appreciate them supporting their fellow students. >> Agreed. There you go. >> By the way, I thank
047you guys for coming tonight. Good to see y'all. >> Okay. Um thanks for your time this evening and uh forgive me if my voice gets a little froggy. I'm kind of getting over a little bit of sickness here, but I think I'm on the tail end there, but I I'd stand up here in a mask, but you probably would have trouble understanding me if I did that. So, um but um before we get into the review of the application, I do think it's important um that we touch base on a few um charter school 101 principles. I know you've all been trained in my charter school 101. Nobody's new on the board this year, but the state does require as a part of our annual evaluation that we do train the board members each year.
048So, I think it's just important that we touch base on on the key elements in in what it means to be a charter school authorizer, okay? So, if you'll oblige me just for a minute, we're going to run through a couple of these reminders. First of all, remember the state has identified six purposes um for charter schools. Um And I think the keys for us, I'm going to point out a couple of them. The first two I think are key draws for our parents um and and families in our district, numbers two and six. Um number two that we provide options for parents to meet educational needs of their students. And we afford parents substantial meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children. So, parent and family involvement is a key draw from
049what I'm finding out from talking to parents of kids that go to charter schools, um this is a big deal for them, the additional options that they have, okay? And that we're providing them. A key concerns for us as an authorizer to monitor, I think, are numbers one and four, uh which kind of speak to making sure that we're monitoring the performance of the charter school so that they A are helping to close those achievement gaps for our students um and measuring their performance of not only the kids, but also the faculty um and the organization to ensure that those kids are have their opportunity to reach proficiency on those state assessments. Those are key draws for us, those six purposes for charter schools. And just a reminder, the three things that a quality authorizer
050really has to do is first of all, maintain high standards, but attainable standards for both our applicants and the schools that we monitor. And we do that by using our performance standards framework. Um it's also important that we uphold the school autonomy and give them the freedom that they need uh to operate how they wish to, but yet hold them accountable for the outcomes, not the processes. And by By I mean we have to not assume direct responsibility for the success or failure of individual schools, but we have to hold them accountable for those outcomes, okay? And then lastly, to protect student and public interest. They are using uh public funds, we have to make sure they're doing that properly. Hold schools accountable for their ethical conduct and compliance with all applicable laws. And your
051own board policy 1.9 says that for applicants, they must present a clear and compelling mission, quality educational program, demonstration of community support, solvent and sustainable budget and contingency financial plans, a clear demonstration of the effectiveness of the model for the target student population, effective governance and management structures and systems, and founding team members demonstrating diverse and necessary capabilities at all phases of the school operation. And then lastly, and this is an important one, clear evidence of the applicant's capacity to execute its plan successfully. Okay? Just a reminder of where we are in the timeline. We're at that third box. We got the letter of intent uh was submitted by the applicant on time and their application on time. We're at the point where we need to vote. We have 90 days upon receipt of that
052application, and that 90 days are up May the 1st. Actually, I think it's May the 2nd, but that's a Saturday. So, theoretically, we could say Monday, May the 4th, but I backed it up to May the 1st just to make sure we get it in get that vote taken on time. And this is your last meeting before that, unless you or Thursday is your last meeting before that. So, unless you wanted to call a special um meeting to vote, you'll need to vote on Thursday, okay? And remember, um if it's approved, if you approve it this Thursday, we move right into the negotiation phase to develop an agreement with the applicant. If not, if you choose to deny it in this go-round, they can submit a amended application within 30 days, and we've been through
053that in in the past years. You know how that works. And then we have 60 more days to review it. And then you'll take another vote. And if you deny it again, then they can appeal to the commission. But again, if you approve it, we go right into the negotiation phase. Okay? And then here's our specific timeline of what what the committee did this year. We went through several meetings and trainings, and they all submitted rubrics to me both before the capacity interview and after the capacity interview that they revised based on the responses we got. As a part of that, I will say this that the applicant did a fantastic job of providing updates on things that we asked for at the capacity interview. They got us everything we asked for. So they almost
054have submitted an amended application just through that natural process. Okay? And we had a nice long capacity interview with them. I think it was 2 and 1/2 hours. So but but it was great. It was It was a It was a good interaction. Okay? All right. So we're presenting the board our present to you our report to you tonight. And again, you'll need to vote hopefully on Thursday. Okay? So that's where we stand. So let's get right into the review of the actual application. And I And I will start out by saying that um probably and I have to say this is one of the more thorough complete applications that I think I have have have reviewed um since I've been in this position. Okay? But So let's talk through the initial application for for
055Rutherford Prep. First of all, just a reminder of who the members of the review team were. You'll notice that there are two principals. There are two parent community members that are on there. Miss Rosales again served as our faithful board member representative on the on the committee. Um and you have multiple central office staff with various areas of expertise not only in accounting, uh federal programs, uh facilities and operations, but also curriculum as well. A strong committee. I will say this, um and I think you remember this, but just to just to remind you, we did have one parent who was chosen in the initial lottery of the parent volunteers that we got, um who ended up having a conflict of interest cuz he actually used to work for the organization. So, we we determined
056that he should not serve on the on the committee, and we replaced him with Dr. Ogundokun who turned out who really got up to speed quickly and gave a lot of great feedback. Okay. So, we received one application this year from Rutherford Prep Charter School, um governed by a group called ReThink Forward. Okay? Um that is their sponsor. ReThink Forward is their sponsor, and they have engaged with Noble Education Initiative to serve as the charter management organization. This is a group that oversees the operations of the school. Okay? The proposed location they're looking um in an area similar to where Rutherford Collegiate Prep is located. They'd like to get close to that so they can share some services, maybe cut down on some costs, um but they have identified four locations that are possible in
057the Blackman area in that zip code of 37129. Okay? Number of schools currently in operation, there are two, um Rutherford Collegiate Prep, Nashville Collegiate Prep, and Envision also manages Knowledge Academies at the Crossings um in MNPS. Although that's a different governing board. They share the same board chairman, James Bristol, but um it's a different governing board between those two. Okay? So, here's their mission statement, and basically, I'm not going to read it all to you. I know you've received this application, you've received this recommendation from us. Um we're just going to try to give you the highlights tonight in a more convinced version. But basically, they're aiming to provide a personalized, engaging, and challenging learning community. They employ the community instructional model, which you may think of that more in terms of a open classroom
058model where the the grade level shares a large common space um for for whole group instruction, all the classes in that grade level, but then those rooms are easily dividable with partitions. This is the way they build their facilities where they can break out into small groups, smaller units, do some intervention, do some enrichment, um or just work in small groups together. And that's how That's their That's their model for instruction for the in in a nutshell, okay? Here's what their proposed enrollment looks like. Um year one, they hope to open with 765 kids um expanding the grades of K-6 and ninth. Um and then they're going to add another grade, seventh and 10th, the following year, um and then they'll add 11th. Finally, they'll get to where they are K-12 in year four, but
059their full enrollment won't hit till year five with this 1,565. Just as a point of comparison, Rutherford Collegiate Prep, uh the other school that that they govern in our district, um right now has 409 students. They're projecting 600 for next year. Their full capacity, um according to their original application, um says 770 students at their and they're just uh K-8. Okay? So. >> Maxwell. >> Yes. >> I'm sorry, can I ask a question about that >> Do you on this particular um graph here? So, is the 765 is that this cumulative including the the school that's currently already in operation? >> This is This is This is a separate school that we're talking about. It does not include Rutherford Collegiate Prep, if that's what you're asking. >> And they're proposing Yes, that's what I'm asking.
060And they're proposing opening with 700 I'm trying to see if I read that right. 6 765 students their opening year? >> They are. That's what they're proposing to. If If they hit their If they hit their targets in year one. >> Okay. >> This is what they hope to do. >> Okay. Okay. And I'll let Ms. Walters talk to you a little bit about the overall summary. >> I'm going to go over the summary of the evaluation that the um the committee used. We use a rubric that has four sections to go ahead and do the initial uh recommendation for the application. Uh the four sections, the rating for all four sections must meet the standards of the rubric in order for the application to be recommended for approval. Um as you can see in
061the table, there are four sections um and then we give a rating for each of them. The first is educational program design and capacity and uh the review committee rated that as meets standards. Uh second is the operations design and capacity which uh the committee rated as also meets the standards. The third section is the budget and finance which we gave a rating of partially meets standards. And then the fourth section is the addenda uh attachments A through C which we rated also as partially meets standards. Um primarily for attachment A which uh gave a relationship between the proposed uh charter school of Rutherford Prep and uh comparisons to other schools that are in the in the same network of as that. Um so ultimately, the review committee recommends the denial of the initial application
062of Rutherford Prep based on uh the application failing to meet uh the standards of the rubric in two of the areas of budget and finance and the attachments and addenda. Uh we're going to go through each section, all four sections, and talk about um some strengths and some um concerns that we had for each section that ultimately uh led to the rating of each of these. We'll start off with section one, educational program design and capacity, looking at the concerns and questions that the review committee had. The first was the ready reading curriculum that the charter intends using is not aligned with Tennessee state standards uh K through 8. Also, uh while the community instructional model that Dr. McCann um went over that the that the charter uses is unique and innovative, uh current levels
063of uh performance call into question its true effectiveness. There was a disconnect between what was stated and observed practices uh due to uh using our uh due diligence conducted by the committee. After talking with the charter commission, which is the authorizer of the president uh present Rutherford Collegium Prep, um they stated that during their annual site visit that they noticed that uh those classrooms that have that grade band all in one big area, um they weren't necessarily using those partitions uh for small groups, uh differentiate differentiated instruction, um and they saw students primarily on devices at that time, and that was throughout different grade bands. Um it needs to be noted that when uh we as a charter committee went to the school to observe, that is not primarily what we saw. We saw the
064the partitions being used, the small groups happening, um but I think it needs to be stated that when they had their annual site visit, uh the charter commission was seeing something something different. Uh I also do want to remind you that in this section, section one, the review committee did give an overall reading as a rating as meets the standards. Also, a lack of community engagement in the development of the plan. Um it was stated that there was not a lot of community outreach to see whether they were in proposal of development plan of a new charter school. We as a review committee went ahead and compiled a survey that was sent out on school messenger on February 11th and was open until March 31st. We asked the community to go ahead and give us
065some feedback on their support or demand for the new charter school in the area. There were 355 responses to that. Question three states, "Do you fully support the approval of a new charter school application submitted by Rutherford Prep?" Out of those 355 responses, 298 responded that they were not in support of of the new charter school application for Rutherford Prep and 57 stated that they were in support of it. We went ahead and looked at the answers from the survey and we compiled some narrative to go along with that, why people were in support and why they were not. Looking at the pros, there were 20 responses that people felt that it it gave more educational options and a school choice for the community, which is the whole purpose of charter schools. Six responses stated
066that charter schools have a back better academic outcome. Five responses agreed with that school model, that community instruction model that the school intends to have and three responses believe that traditional Rutherford County schools were overcrowded and that will alleviate some of that. Looking at the cons, there were 154 responses feeling that funding and resources were being taken away from our traditional Rutherford County schools. 64 responded that they felt there were low academics in the school and the current school is failing and they had reservations about NEI as a corporation as a whole. 27 responses regarding they felt there was maybe lack of oversight and accountability for the charter school. And then 23 responding that they worried about staff standards, teacher retain retaining teachers, standards for teachers. And then 15 stated that they felt it was
067more of a money maker that divides our community rather than bringing it together. >> Ms. Maxwell. >> Yes. >> Just a quick question about the survey real quick. >> Mhm. >> Um How do you When you say you've asked the community, what does that look like? You reach out to like Blackman parents? >> It's a school messenger survey. >> Okay. So, these are students >> Rutherford County. >> that are already in the public schools here, traditional schools. >> And then it was put on our website, too. So, anyone could go to Rutherford County, click on the link and be able to take this. >> And did it from there. Okay. Great. I was just curious. >> Any other questions? >> Nope. We're going good. We're here. >> Okay. So, um I will say this, you'll
068notice that we did rate rate section one as meets the standards because the committee felt like the strengths of the application outweighed the concerns and questions. Let's talk about what those strengths are. Um first of all, their instructional plan is rooted in evidence-based, proven strategies from researchers like John Hattie, um Robert Marzano, Carol Dweck, all folks that are recognized in the educational world as having um extensive knowledge of what works well in schools. And and and they refer to those strategies throughout their application. We also felt like their 9 through 12 offerings uh did um provide an extensive college and career readiness program, many options for kids. They are Cambridge model school. They offer multiple career pathways for their high school kids, multiple honors classes, and multiple AP courses. We love their daily schedule because
069it reflects a commitment to providing support to all levels of learner. They intentionally schedule two blocks in their day. One is called a success block. This is where they can focus on some tier one type intervention, some enrichment, small groups, differentiated instruction, but they also have an RTI block built into their schedule where they can focus on providing those tier two and tier three type interventions that are required by the state RTI model. And they would be the first one of our charter schools that actually has that actually in their daily schedule. So, we were definitely fans of that. Great. One thing I left out though is is their pupil teacher ratios. They're perfectly aligned with those state maximums. 20 to one in lower grades, 25 to one in the middle grades, upper grades 30
070to one, and they commit to having their CTE courses meet that mandated threshold of no more than 25 to one. Okay? So, let's go on to section two, the operations design and capacity, which we also rated as meets the standard. >> Yes, Mr. Vaughn. >> I got a question about in section one, you talked about the reading program that the was not aligned with the state standards. >> model that Ready Reading is is their is their reading program that they've adopted, and it's not aligned with Tennessee K-8 standards. >> That's a problem, then. >> Typically, charter schools often times one of the waivers they request is not to have to use state aligned materials, and it would be up to us if we were if we granted that waiver, but right now that's that's the
071program that they are calling for. >> So, state lets them do about what they want, which is sad. Thank you. >> They're still mandated to teach state standards, and they're still held accountable for assessments that are aligned with state standards regardless. Okay, so let's go on to section two, operations design and capacity. >> Yes, and like Dr. McKean stated, uh the review committee uh rated this overall as meets the standards. So, I'm going to go ahead and talk about still some uh concerns or questions that we had after looking at this section of the application. Uh one thing that stuck out to us is that no parent representative is to be included on the governing board within the first 6 months of approval, which is required by the application criteria per state law. Uh they
072stated that there would be a parent advisory group that would be put together, but uh those parents would not have an active uh position on the governing board or have any um voting rights um when it comes to that. Another thing that we stated was that the sites There is no site that has been secured yet for the proposal of the facility. There are four possible locations that are being considered, but as of right now there is no um proposal for an actual site. >> Okay, so let's talk about a couple of concerns a couple of strengths we had rather um that again we felt like outweighed the concerns that we had for their overall operations. First of all, they have very clear, well-defined organizational structures um in in the organization both Rethink Forward and
073and Noble Education Initiative. Um clear division of roles and responsibilities, a lot of support from above for the school. They would get a tremendous amount of support from above. Um and um they have a lot of experience in providing those important support services like transportation, food service, which we know can be a challenge. Uh student health services I we feel like these are all key recruitment tools um to to to to to draw families to their school. The fact that they're providing transportation, number one, is is definitely a plus. Okay. >> Okay. I just got a question. Um What about their food service? >> Mhm. >> I'm just interested cuz we had a a charter school that challenged for that. >> That that that >> they operating that? How are they doing that? >> have
074extensive experience with that. They have their own providers. They have vendors. Um and and they have um shown a history of uh um running a proper food service program at their schools. And we feel like they that they'll have that. They probably already got that ball rolling. So, let's get on to section three. This is the first section where we had some concerns, okay? Let's just kind of talk through these a little bit. Um and and and let me just start this by saying not only did did our review consist of just the application review, but we conducted a tremendous amount of due diligence um in speaking with um not only the applicant and ourselves. We had a lot of communication back and forth, but also we we uh uh talked several times with the
075state charter commission, who is their current authorizer of two of their schools, and MMNPS, which is an authorizer uh of one of their schools at least at the moment they are. So, we have had a lot of uh a lot of input into all this. So, but let's talk about concerns, first of all, for budget and finance. Uh one concern of ours is that their staffing FTE budget doesn't provide full ELL staffing to meet state-mandated ratios. If you go by their percentage of predicted ELL students and the number of teachers that they are budgeting for, they're one teacher short of hitting that that that 35:1 ratio um uh throughout the state, okay? Um which which is a concern for our ELL department. Um you know, that's a that's a district-wide average that we have to
076meet. Um but we like for all of our schools to to be within that ratio, especially to the large number of ELL students we have in our district. And there also was a small discrepancy between the budget and the narrative provided for sufficient health services. The narrative says that they would there will be a school nurse. Budget doesn't provide for that until year three. Um they do however provide what they call a clinic assistant for the first couple of years. Um but that's not a licensed medical professional. That's just like a a paraprofessional. Um that still has to be overseen by a licensed medical professional. And we're just not clear about about that in those first two years. Okay? But the narrative does say they will have a school nurse. A big concern for ours,
077this is probably one of the biggest concerns we have in the budget and finance part, is that contingency model for enrollment deficits. If they don't hit that 765, and we don't know exactly what the threshold is, um because their only contingency model says, "Well, if we don't hit our targets, we'll back up and and open with only 100 ninth graders. And we're going to house them at the current RCP facility, which is a state charter commission authorized building and school. So we're concerned about the feasibility of having two different authorizers monitoring two different groups of students all in the same building. And if And if they have They do have room in that facility to house these additional kids. Question for me is though is if they have room in this facility, then why are
078we proposing to build yet another one when we're not filling the one that we have? >> I had a question when I saw Yes. I thought it was very um optimistic when it said 150 ninth graders. What has told them that they thought they could get 150 ninth graders? >> 100 100 ninth graders. Well, I think they place a lot of stock in the fact that they're um they're adding eighth grade to their school next year. And And most of those middle school >> those children would go on >> They feel like they're holding on to their their their older kids as they come. They added seventh grade this year. They'll add eighth grade next year and they feel like they can they can keep those eighth graders and move them into ninth grade. >>
079Okay. What do you know outside of not to get We offer a lot of things in high school. You know, we have band, we have cheerleading, we have football, we have sports. Are they going to be offering any of those things or are those children just expected to, you know, the law is is they can >> It's a great question and and in our discussion with them, yes, they do plan to offer those opportunities for their kids. It may take a few years to where they have enough money and enough student enrollment to offer everything. But but yes, that is in their plan is to offer all those extracurriculars for their kids. >> Okay. >> Ms. Maxwell. >> Yes, Mr. Tidwell. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Tammy. >> I'm sorry. Ms. Short. Sorry. >> Um my
080question, could you just so we all have a clear understanding distinguish between the different schools cuz it's a separate school. So, it'd be like they're wanting to build This application is for a completely different school. Similar to like Antioch versus the Blackman one that's already existing. They're wanting to build another option just like that. But if that plan doesn't work back, we're going to go back into the option that already currently exist. >> Yes and no. The the if if they can't build a facility right off the bat and house it with with with 765 kids or close to it, um that's their plan is to start to back up, start with only 100 kids, all ninth graders, and they're going to house them at the current Rutherford Collegiate Prep facility. Now, that's like having
081two schools in one building, which is not unusual for charter schools. Sometimes in one building or one whatever facility they can find, sometimes charter schools can have multiple schools in the same building. The difficult part there is that they're both under the same governing body. They're both under the same CMO, but they're authorized by two different entities. So, how would those shared services be handled? How would you know in in the funding they they indicate they would be basically paying rent to Rutherford Collegiate Prep. >> So, there >> for those 109 graders. >> Potentially, the accountability could be different. Is is that what you're suggesting? >> It shouldn't be. It shouldn't be. We have the same standards for the most part. Um our our performance frameworks are modeled after the state charter commission's anyway, so
082the accountability would be very similar, but it would be hard for us to monitor that. It'd be very difficult for us to monitor that. >> I don't want to get too far off the questions at the end, but I'm just I don't know. I just feel like the 700 is a large very large number. Why not start with that to begin with? Start with the contingency plan to begin with, build up the funds, look for the place. It When are they proposing opening? Not this fall, next fall? >> 27-28. >> Okay. >> 27-28. >> Be sure. >> So, they currently have the building uh here in Blackman. Um is there a nurse? I mean, surely they have a nurse already existing in that building. >> I believe they do have a nurse. Do you have
083a nurse >> So, so >> in in Rutherford Collegiate Prep? They have a full-time nurse. >> Yeah, so that's >> Clinic, no, they just have a clinic assistant. >> Clinic, okay, cuz I mean, that's pretty general. And it is very common, from what I've read, New York State has many many charter schools that are all in one same building. So, um It I know it's been done before where charter school opens under the commission, they they build another one another school, and they could petition us to for both of them become under our authority versus just the 9 through 12. >> That I don't know. I don't know how that would work. I'm sure that's something that could happen. Um um but I'm not sure how because they're under a 10-year agreement with the Charter
084Commission right now. >> Would it have to go back to the Charter Commission? >> I don't know. That's a good question. >> something that >> And And I I I honest honestly, I asked him this question um when we first met, when we first got their LOI. Um thinking that you know, I I we kind of suspected maybe the same thing that well, maybe they're just looking to add high school make this a bigger campus all-in-one under one authorized and they said no, they want two campuses. They want two feeder systems for their high school. So, they want to keep Rutherford Collegiate Prep as a feeder for their high school and in this new Rutherford Prep K-12 will have a feeder into the high school and both technically would feed into the high school. So,
085>> Thank you. One last question. So, is there more property at the location that they have if they don't find another piece of land if they've been looking for one, would they be able to build >> I'll have to ask I'll have to ask that question. >> Okay. >> I don't know. >> Thank you. >> Yes, Ms. Wallace. >> Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. This is a lot of I didn't want to start asking questions because there's a lot to cover still. And we're only at the section three. >> We're getting there. >> I But can we Can you go really quickly? Can you go back to the enrollment chart if you don't mind? And tackling that 100 ninth graders for a second. >> Look at all that. >> Um All right. So, see year
086one they're starting out with the ninth grader and technically they're supposedly in the other school, but then year two they are adding 10th grade. I've been We've been to the building. There's not going to be I don't think there's room in that other building >> I don't know if they got two more buildings. >> so they will have to >> graders. They showed us that we have room for those ninth graders. I don't know about 10th. I was thinking that this facility was was going to be used to put the high school the new one to put the high school in not the current I guess I'm confused right right so that's why I'm I'll talk to you after that's why I'm a little confused 9th and 10th grade cuz I was thinking that was
087going to the new facility not the current facility RCP but I'll get clarification from you >> Miss Maxwell >> yes Mr >> is it is it good understanding to say that the current facility will exist as it is which I think is K-38 right >> Mhm >> it was K-7 now it'll be K-8 next year >> yeah expanding and this school that's being proposed is similar to Eagle View it's K-12 >> Mhm that is correct we'll say this while we were talking about enrollment targets one thing to note is that um for Rutherford Collegiate Prep their target in year two was 565 kids they have 409 at the moment um K at the Crossings Knowledge Academy their target was 850 they actually have 400 at the time so that's a concern is being able to
088maintain sufficient enrollment to to be able to afford a new facility number one and to and to pay off the debt load that we're going to talk about here in a second whenever they're they're not quite hitting their enrollment targets yet not to say that they won't but that's where they are right >> Dr Sullivan >> and that is my only concern this is the best application honestly that we have seen. My only concern is that part about the targets. Um there absolutely is a true-up, and so Mr. Runyon's going to go over this a little bit. So, we'll just take our our charter enrollment. We have worked with the state board. We've worked with some representatives with Collegiate Prep, and I'm hoping we're going to continue to make progress, but I'm looking at next
089year's budget with three potential charter schools coming on board where we project um projected enrollment, and that could be a 15 or 20 million-dollar fiscal cliff that we hit just on projected enrollment. Um I'm hoping we'll make some leeway, but when you just for us, for example, I will take our two um authorized charter schools. Mr. Runyon, what is I think one's going from 205 to Do you remember what? >> I believe it was 240. >> So, that's only $350,000. That's not a a big increase. Um what was the other one? That Springs. >> I know Well, >> Maybe Mr. McGhee, Mr. McGhee, you might know better. >> I think it was Aiko was actually going to 380. >> Mhm. >> And they're And they're hitting their targets. Like year after year, they're getting pretty
090close. >> Um >> Rutherford Collegiate Prep is at 410. They're projecting 600. They haven't met that yet, but we are required to budget at the 600. If they don't receive that, then we will get that money back trued up, but you all know what Once our budget's passed, our budget's passed. And so, there's I can't get that $2 million back once it goes to the county commission. You guys saw when I tried to get the $70,000 what happens. Um so, it it goes there. I'm just not able to get it. And so, for our budgeting purposes, you all are going to see we're putting about $3 million into projected enrollment that we very well may get back, but I'm not able to use it for our insurance or our Cola raises. The rest of it
091was very well earned. It's for students that are already there. I'm very concerned about that the next year when all three open at once. >> Yes, Mr. Ball. >> Well, all right, which leads us to this question then. Should we or is there any guidance given by the state from a budgetary standpoint that we isolate these funds here you know, and build a box around it for lack of a better way to put it and the county commission knows this. This is This is like playing poker. We don't know what the cards are. >> They know. >> And and and really they don't either. I mean, they can make great they're doing it like they should be. The dilemma as I see it is we have always been able to for 30 years here project
092an increase in enrollment. You can see it, you know, over the last 30 years. It's pretty definite. But with charter schools in the mix now and now the scholarships, let's call them scholarships, that that it really creates a little bit of a budget nightmare that we if we're over if we're over zealous, then we're then then we've got a pot of extra money here. If we're not right, >> then we're way >> then we could we could be behind the eight ball and never come out from behind it. >> Yeah. >> Or it would take three or four years to come out from behind it. >> Yeah, and that's that's my only concern with the state. We're trying to figure it out. We just didn't make as much progress as I had. >> Right, so
093there's no there's no you're not listening to me. That's all right. Now that's now I'm picking at you, but there's no guidance from the state. There's no guidance from anybody about isolating this money. I mean, we can't We're one of the unusual counties. I would say us and probably Williamson. >> They don't have a charter school. >> in Williamson. >> It's just us. It's just us by the controller. We're the only one by the controller that has one. >> All right, so we got to be pretty prudent up here. >> And I've I've talked to the state board as well. They are very interested in doing a study about the financial part cuz they haven't done one, so we >> So we got a head start. >> We really made a lot of inroads, and
094so they're very interested in doing that portion. I just want to be able to get that down. We work together trying to get this stuff done. Like we've developed a great relationship. I just don't want it to get lost because we're I'm looking at next year very concerned. >> Yeah, I agree with >> And this is I guess it their application's amazing. I think it'll be great. Yes. >> They absolutely they've been great to work with. Great. >> Mr. Thank you, manager. Um Dr. Sullivan, >> Yeah. >> can you uh Thursday give us the numbers that Mr. Edsel Charles and RC has predicted for this year? >> Okay, I'll get that for you. >> Thank you. >> I will say on a positive note that that of their the schools in the portfolio that um
095Nashville Collegiate Prep does appear to be hitting their enrollment targets. >> Okay. >> Um in Nashville right now in that Antioch cluster where they are. So, and we'll talk a little bit more about about about those Nashville schools here in a minute. But >> Before we move on, I just want to say I was not being negative. They have been great to work with. >> Like they they have been they've been phenomenal to work >> They have been great. >> And the State Board and Charter Commission they all have been great to work with in partnership. >> Yep. Yep. >> And then and then lastly, our last concern on budget and finances and we just kind of got this information recently because it was not in their original authorizers reports, but the annual authorizer reports
096for both um or for the Charter Commission have been updated and both Nashville Collegiate Prep and Rutherford Collegiate Prep were rated as falls far below for financial performance. And we'll look at those authorizer reports here in a second. In our conversation with the Charter Commission, this is mainly this is not a concern over their financial operation and their ability in the short term to manage things financially. They're very strong in that area. Um this is based on the concern over the heavy debt load that they have built up because they have built two new facilities. They built Rutherford Collegiate Prep and then a new Nashville Collegiate Prep building as well. So, that is added significantly to their debt load. But, I will say this is in and again the communication has been great. When I
097sent them a copy of our report last week, Dr. Corney got back to me today with some responses to a couple of our concerns. And one of the things that she reminded me of and and I want to point out to you is that um they are using a bond financing structure for the for those facilities which is similar to what you know a school district would do to to build new facilities which kind of gives them a little bit more ability in the long term or to make things sustainable over the long term. Um and and that's very typical for new school financing to happen. And they do have a significant amount of private funding that that that is provided to them. So, but it's still my conversation with the with the charter commission,
098even they are concerned over their ability to handle that debt load, especially when your enrollments are not at what your targeted rates are at this point. I mean that that's that's where your funding comes from. Okay? All right. So, um for those reasons we did decide that to rate section three as only partially meets the standard. But, there were some strengths, too. Okay? We talked about the enrollment deficits already. So, let's talk about the strengths of this section. Go ahead, >> All right. So, looking at the strengths, the first one is that the budget provides a reasonable and conservative approach for forecasting revenue and expenses for both of their scenarios. Also, ReThink Forward has contracted with NEI to provide financial services to the school. This definitely helps alleviate administrative burden on the school so that
099the administrators can focus on academics, as the student population, and some of the just regular day-to-day things that they don't have to worry about the financial burdens that come along with running a school. >> I and I will and I will piggyback that up by saying that that uh um to me is a def- definite welcome relief in in comparison to our current charter schools whose um um administrators are wearing multiple multiple hats. Um it's very hard to manage. That to my mind in my mind is the advantage of having a strong CMO um to provide that top-down support, that support from above. So, at the school you can focus on what's important. Okay? Okay, so let's move on to section four. This is new to the um application this year. Um section four is
100now basically some attachments and some addenda, but they're also scored and rated as part of the applications. Now, there are multiple addendas. Our applic- our applicant was only um responsible for addressing the first three of the addenda, A, B, and C. And our main concern, like Miss Walters told you earlier, lies with addenda A, which is the relationship with existing charter schools. And our concern here is that um that their academic performance has not been particularly strong. Okay? Um and that's that that that's over several years, not just the one year for Rutherford Collegiate Prep, but Nashville Collegiate Prep's been in existence five years, and then KA at the Crossings has been through its entire 10-year term. All right, so let's talk a little bit about what those numbers look like. Okay? Um here's a
101comparison from the 2025 This is just the 2025 report card, and I wanted you to see this because the the the schools in yellow are the current um ENA schools. Okay? And the in green are our two um Rutherford County authorized charter schools. So, you can kind of compare the performance. Um and you'll notice that Rutherford Collegiate um Prep, their numbers as a first-year charter school are very, very similar to American Classical Academy Rutherford, also a first-year charter school. Their achievement percentages are around 25% meets or exceeds the standards. They both had ones for TVAAS. They both had Ds on the report card. So, that can kind of give you a frame of references how their performance was compared to one of our first-year charter schools. But, then you'll look at NCP and they're like
102I say, they're in their fifth year of existence. They're a TVAAS 3 and a report card report card grade of C. Knowledge Academy did get a 4 on TVAAS and that'll come into play a little bit later when we talk about the charter commission here in a minute. But, they are also a C on their report card grade and this is in the 10th year of existence for them. By the way, I will just just so you know, Knowledge Academy is a 5 through 12 school. Okay, so they have upper elementary, middle, and high school. Right now, RCP is a K-6. And they're adding seventh grade next year or eighth grade next year. Right, they had seventh grade this year, they're adding eighth grade next year. But, this is from the 20 school year 25.
103Very similar to the report that I presented to you about our current charter schools. Okay? So, let's take a look at the annual authorizer report data um for those other for of the three charter schools in their portfolio. To do this, I'm going to have to exit out and um click on my link here. Let's get it to work. There we go. Okay. So, what you're going to be looking at here is the published annual authorizer's reports. Um and we're going to start with Rutherford Collegiate Prep. Um this is they are a Tennessee Public Charter School Commission authorized school um and you'll notice that for their three indicators, academic performance and financial performance, both are rated as falls far below the standard. Now, organizationally, they meet the standard. Okay? So, and if you scroll through
104the academic performance section, you'll notice that uh there's a lot of red there, a lot of falls far below standard, they did not meet their goal of for mission-specific goal, um our students with disabilities comparative to RCS and ELA. Uh all these um a lot of red for the academic. But, this is their first year, just like American Classical Academy was. All lots of falls far below, TIVAS TIVAS composite of one. Financial performance also rated as falls far below. Now, for their near-term indicators, they meet the standards. Okay? They did They did meet the standards. And this is according to their audit report. But, you'll notice for financial uh sustainability, they fall far below in three and don't meet in one. And again, that's related to the heavy debt load that they have incurred at
105this point with the building of two new schools. All right. Let's take a look at um organizational performance. And there's a lot of green, meets the standard. They have a strong organization. The concerns here are two. Um they fall far below the standards for student retention rates and teacher retention rates. They're not retaining teachers or students. Now, let me say this. This is their first year of existence and and what they find out and they'll admit this. They own this. They own their data. Um they take full responsibility for it. Um and they say that and it makes sense to me, too, that um in that initial year, getting used to that community instructional model, we realize it's not a good fit for everyone, students and some teachers. It's just not a good fit. Um
106so, sometimes that's what happens. You don't retain your teachers, you don't retain your students while you're while you're learning how that works. Okay? Let's look at Nashville Collegiate Prep. Again, they're in their fifth year. They underwent their five-year performance review this year. And uh um academic performance, do not meet the standard. Financial performance falls far below. Academics, a lot of yellow for does not meet, but there's some green in here too to celebrate and some blue even. They seem to be doing a really good job with their with their English language learners compared to MNPS. Okay, and again, their scores are compared to MNPS, whereas Rutherford Collegiate Prep was scored compared to Rutherford County. >> I hate to interrupt you, but I they don't have a high school level yet at Nashville Collegiate Prep. I
107thought they did. >> Uh Nashville Collegiate Prep is just a >> K8 right now, right? They got high school now? >> Uh just this year. >> Okay. >> So there's no high school >> they built a new building. That's why they built a new building. >> Is there any charter school in the state of Tennessee that has high school? >> Yeah, there's a lot. >> K8 at The Crossings, which we're fixing to look at in a minute. >> Okay. And again, financial performance, again, they they fall far below uh falls far below the standard um for again those sustainability measures. Near-term indicators, they're meeting the standards. But it's the it's the sustainability that is the concern because of that heavy debt load. >> The >> And let's take a >> ask you question right there?
108You We keep coming back to that, but how is that rated? It In my mind, it's got to be debt load per student per year. What what So what is what >> Well, when you look at the when you look at the performance framework, all those measures are looked at that debt to asset ratio. What's into their assets? What's their debt service coverage ratio? What's their unrestricted net position? All of those are are analyzed as a part of their their audit and the performance frameworks. >> So what is that number? I I've got it in my head what our number is, and that's reason I'm wondering what the debt load is and how many students. I could do the math in my head pretty quick, but I >> I don't have that >> know you
109got a you got a rubric to follow. I got common sense to follow, so that's that's what I'm trying to get in my brain. >> have a lot of common sense, do they? >> I don't know. I'll ask you later. I We'll come up with it later. >> Organizational performance for them is also it is good. A lot of green. But again, their concerns are student retention rates again, English learner rights where they don't meet the standard. And again, there's teacher retention. And again, this is in their fifth year. That's why it's a concern. And attendance, they've got some attendance issues, too. Okay. Now, let's take a look at Here's K at the Crossing. This one The This particular um review was done by MNPS because at the time they were an MNPS school. They
110still are at the moment, I believe. Um and they for academics uh this is again in their 10th year. They do not meet the standard. They do not meet the standard. Um financials, um they're all listed as pending. They have not updated their um annual authorizer reports based on the audit because we've not received Apparently, they hadn't received the audit at the time they wrote this report and they've not updated it accordingly. So, we're not sure what their their financial performance is at Organizational performance, a lot of meet standards. Does not meet for English learner rights. Falls far below for credentialing. Does not meet the standards for background checks. So, that's a little bit of HR stuff there, it looks like. But other than that, a lot of meet standards for the organization. The organization
111itself um generally is meeting their standards. Okay? All right, let's go back to where we were. So, I'll say So, here's uh some other questions and concerns that we have. Um and you need to know this that Nashville Collegiate Prep is currently designated as a TSI school by the State Department of Ed. That's targeted support and improvement. And that label is is when you finish in the bottom 5% statewide for the performance of a student subgroup. In their case, it was for black and African American students. So, they are a targeted support and improvement school according to the TDOE. KA at the Crossings, um we talked a little bit about them. They were denied a renewal of their agreement at the end of their 10-year term by MNPS. And we have watched the um um
112the the board presentation for that, that video in the hearing uh to find out why exactly that was. We've talked to MNPS. They provided their um um their report to us so we could read through it as well. Um and basically it's a failure to achieve their stated goals over the course of their term. And their goals, and really their other two schools um both RCP and NCP say the same thing. Um if you read I mean, sorry, RCP and RP, the new one, their goal is at the end of year one to be a TVA level three. They will improve by one level each year thereafter. So, by year three they should be a level five. Um they've never reached that level. They just reached level four in year 10 at KA at the
113Crossing. MNPS rated their application as does not meet or partially meets in all the areas. Um they also mentioned that they did engage NEI as a CMO midway. I think it was in 2019. Um um NEI was engaged to become their their CMO to help turn the school around. However, they did not go through the proper channels and get that approved through MNPS. Um so, that was a concern for for Metro Nashville as well. The commission, so it went to the commission to be reviewed um and the commission review committee recommended denial even uh because they partially met in academic success, because they failed to provide a sufficiently rigorous academic mo- model, and partially met in future plans and projections because they failed to provide a detailed evidence-based plan for future growth. Okay? However, the
114commission did approve them and have granted them a 5-year term for renewal, not a 10-year but 5-year renewal, and they place a lot of stock in the fact that they did reach level four in that last year, and they see that as a positive sign of growth for them. So, the commission says, "Yeah, we're going to give you another five years. Let's see if we can't get it done." Okay? But, as a result, we ended up scoring them as partially meets the standards for that addendum. Now, uh but let's let's back up a couple years, all right? Because I think it's important to track progress, and if you look at these two schools, Nashville Collegiate Prep and Knowledge Academy, going all the way back to 2021, uh they've had TVA scores of three and two,
115two and two, and then up to four and three uh for the next year. Now, NCP dropped back down to a level three, you'll notice, for '25, but KA came up to a level four for '25. But, there's the report card grades as well. Uh D's for both of them in '23, a C for NCP and a D for KA in '24. All right, so it's it's just important that you know the history. But, there were some strengths, too, Ms. Walters-Goode. >> Um one important straight strength to note is that they have a strong pattern of leadership within the organization with clear uh delineation of roles and responsibilities. Um their very strong leadership has actually led to limited leadership turnover in the corporation, which is something that definitely needs to be noted as an important
116strength for them. Um ReThink Forward presents a pattern of conservative financial budgeting and operations, including a uh healthy fund balance, which is uh important in itself. Um and then overall, like we said in this section, we as a committee um rated it as partially meets standards for this section. Oh. Um so, in conclusion, um the Charter Review Committee recommends the denial of the initial application of Rutherford Prep, Uh noting these three major concerns as according to our recommendation. Uh poor record of academic performance and teacher and student retention rates for the network schools. Uh the contingency plan that we've talked a lot about um for not meeting that initial enrollment which houses uh 100 ninth graders in the current RCP um facility which puts two student bodies under one facility under two different authorizers. Um
117and then two commission authorized school ratings as falls far below for the financial performance and that uh is due to that heavy debt load that they've taken on. Uh the charter commission itself uh voiced its concerns about um their financial uh performance continuing to hit that falls far below for the next several years due to the heavy debt load that they have taken on building the new facilities. >> Okay, before we wrap it up, everybody okay? You hanging in there? All right. It's a lot. It's a lot. But before we wrap it up, I do want to say this that like I said before that poor record of academic performance, they own it. They don't try to deny it and they've taken a lot of steps to address that. They changed administrations. They have brought
118on new people and hired instructional coaches and put uh other positions in place to help turn that around as much as they can. Okay, so it's not like they're pretending that's not that's not a a thing because they are owning it. Um and and again that financial performance due to that due to the debt load, um sometimes you have to spend money to to attract more kids and and have nice facilities and we love their facility by the way. If you've never been out to see RCP, um it's a nice it it's a nice setup out there. Very nice. Okay. So, reminders for you guys. Okay? Let's keep in mind the committee was very scrutinize with the submitted application and that's our job. That's our job is to is to eye this with with much
119scrutiny and give you as much information as you need because ultimately you have to make the decision for what's best. So we only feel like it's important that we give you as much information as as we can. Um if denied, if you decide to deny at Thursday, we have to give specific reasons why. And then we have then they can submit their amended application we said within 30 days. But when approved RC uh the Board of Education, you guys, all of us as authorizers, we become legally liable for anything that's in that agreement. Application and practice of the charter school. It becomes our responsibility once they've been approved. And then a quality authorizer, I say this every year and I have to remind you of this. This is not my words, this comes from the
120state and the charter commission and NCSA. Quality authorizer makes decisions to approve or deny based on what's best for students, families and the LEA regardless of political or other external pressures and ideals. I know that's a challenge. But next steps. This is the last slide, I promise. Please carefully consider the report given to you tonight, the report that I sent you last week and the application itself. If you've not looked through that application, please take some time to do it. I know it's long, but there's a lot of information in there. Um vote by resolution at Thursday's board meeting. You have to draft a resolu- a resolution approving or denying. Provide that resolution to the charter school within and I'll do that within 5 days. And again, if you do deny it, provide specific reasons
121why and accept that amended application within 30 days. But if approved, we go right into the agreement negotiation process, and we can work on developing agreement between us and the applicant. Questions? >> Ms. Maxwell? >> Yes, Mr. Rozelle. >> Thank you. All right. Um, so obviously everybody knows I was in the capa- in the interview, I mean interview, in the committee, um, and I was also part of the capacity interview. I I don't know if you will agree with this assessment, but I felt like the capacity interview was one of the better interviews that we've had compared to other charter schools. I think they were a little bit more prepared in answering some of the questions. >> responsive to our questions, and all of like I said before, all the things we asked for, they
122provided. >> Yeah. And I wish that during the capacity interview we had received the, um, the audit from the charter commission, so we can ask them specifically about the financial concern to the debt to ratio. Cuz we didn't discover that until after the fact, so it was kind of hard to, um, ask that question, because we asked a ton of questions that were related to the application that we received, and they were very thorough, and they answered a lot of the concerns that we had then. Um, with that being said, I'm really curious to understand that piece and how they can, um, share with us how they're able to handle the debt to ratio. Is that something we can ask >> Uh, I'm sure they would be willing to provide that. I do have the
123response that Carney sent me this morning. That details some of that, and I'm I'm happy to share that with you. >> Yeah, that'd be great if we can share that information. Consider that between now and Thursday. That'd be great, because, like I said, we didn't get to get we didn't have that information before, so we wouldn't know to ask that particular question when we were there. So, it's not something that we just grabbed out of thin air and just slap it on. It was that fact that we were not aware of what that outcome of the audit was going to be. So, we didn't the committee that was sitting really didn't get to answer that question, and I'm curious to know um >> Keep in Keep in mind, too, that that that could be part
124of consider part of the process if you were to deny this initial application. >> Okay. >> submitted amended application. They can then provide all those those answers. >> Okay. >> And that's their chance to do that. I'm not saying you have to do that. >> Right. >> But I'm But But that that would be an opportunity. But again, I'm I'm I'm happy to share Dr. Carney's responses with you. >> Yeah, if you can share that with all of us, that'd be great. Thank you. >> Senator Beach Ron >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um I would like to ask you bigger pardon to suspend the rules and allow them to come and address those questions since everybody's here. I don't know if everybody's going to be here Thursday, and that would give us some kind of
125I I believe that's what you were asking for. So, if we could suspend the rules and allow them to address this now if there's someone here that can address that. >> All in favor of suspending the rules and allowing them to come and speak and answer some questions. All in favor, say aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed? Okay. We suspend the rules. >> Specifically about the dead load. Yes. Specifically about the dead load. >> All right. Thank you for your time. Appreciate you uh bending the rules, I guess, if you will. I do want to say because I've had these discussions with the commission on the financial side. I'm the the finance person for NEI. Those metrics that they use, they are not they do not take into account that this is a school that is
126just open opened a few years ago and is in the ramp-up stage. So, it takes time to be able to be at that fully mature amount where you're hitting those metrics. There's no handicapping or no consideration of the fact that you're in a growth stage. Our debt service is being paid. I mean, we're paying every dollar. We paid it last year, we're not at full enrollment, we paid it the first year, we weren't at full enrollment, and we're going to pay it next year. And and we're not we're not taking away from the classroom. We're still putting what's needed in the classroom. And if you see the pictures of this facility, I think you'll be very impressed. Even the one in RCP that has this beautiful slide that's very safe that goes down the center
127of the building. I think it's very creative, very unique. Um we have lenders that have lent us private money, not taxpayer money, $110 million to build these campuses for the people of Nashville. We would love to do the same for the people of Rutherford County. Uh we did we do have already, in fact, a commitment from a lender for up to $50 million to build this K-12 that we're looking for uh to build here for for the people of Rutherford. So, just like we're making all our debt service payments, we we actually led uh I should add a turnaround of the financial situation at KA at The Crossing. It was when came in, we came in because there were some financial concerns at the school, and we literally turned I think Dr. Carney or Corbett
128here can uh present that to you, but if you look at when we took over KA, what those financials look like to what they look like now is completely night and day. And so, there is the Oh, sorry. Oh, I thought I was getting buzzed. So, uh just in closing, I mean, again, with debt service being paid and commitments from lenders the way we have, just bear in mind that those commission metrics were not do not take into account that we are not a full school, and that is purposeful. We You don't just open your doors and just fill it up. That's not the smart way to open a school for its longevity. So, Corbett, anything you want to add? >> Yeah, thanks, Richard. And and thanks for the opportunity to speak tonight. So, uh
129I would just add that, you know, prior to the bond financing of the facilities, we were green in all their financial metrics for the years in which we were operating Nashville Collegiate Prep at the at with the commission. And we had multiple conversations with them as we were leading up to doing this financing. Um and, you know, I And so, and we can we will continue to have those conversations as they recognize also that the structure in which, you we're the only one they have that was building facilities such as this. Um and so, the the SPF, as it sits right now, doesn't clearly um have a a designation designed to show, as Richard was explaining, that you're going to build the facility and then ramp yourself into it um so that you're able to
130go and grow responsibly as you put that together. Um at the same time, uh you know, the as we have the opportunity to go and um as Richard said, we're going and making sure that we're making those payments over time. There's also multiple ways to manage debt is my last comment around that, as you would all know, just from the way in which you would also manage your home your home mortgage, for example. So, you know, over time, as you grow into it, there's different opportunities and ways to to go and structure that. And as we have private financing ready to go to help assist us in constructing a beautiful facility here in Rutherford County for Rutherford Prep, once again, with no taxpayer money, um in order to help you all and partner with you
131as we go and work with your growth. Just know that this is an opportunity for us to to go and look at that conservative responsible budget as your committee pointed out that was put before you both from a revenue and expenditure standpoint. It includes those projections around what we are looking to spend and make sure we make those payments year-over-year as those revenues grow from that increased enrollment. >> Thank you. >> Does anybody have any questions? >> I'll get back to that one question that I that I keep trying to figure out if you can help me with this. And I and and I know you're taking on debt load on the front end, you know, you're not going to be at full enrollment, but if I understood it right, it's a 1,500 student complex,
132right? Is that right? >> 1,565 here. >> But 1,600 students, all right, rough numbers right there. The cost of the facility and the land, the debt load, what's the total wrapped there? >> You're right. >> Cuz I I'm wondering if we can learn something from you guys. That's another reason I'm asking. >> Absolutely. So right now the project is looked at at 50 million. >> You think you can do it all for 50 million? >> Based on what we've been able to accomplish both in Rutherford here with Rutherford Collegiate Prep as well as what we've been able to build not that far away in in Nashville. >> Right. Right. Right. And I'm not trying to grill you. I'm I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some private funding on top of the 50 million
133cuz I heard that and I'm looking back at the debt load of what we carry when we build a new building about what it costs per student per year. That's kind of how I look at it. I'm No, the rest of board may look at it that way, but the appreciated cost over say a 50-year period of time cuz I'm assuming it's a 50-year building, but I don't want to get in trouble here and assume anything. So that was what I was trying to get to which it if that number is right, then it's about $670 per student per year over that 50-year period of time plus your maintenance and upkeep. That's what I was trying to get to. Thank you. >> Yeah. Yes, and this facility will be like 117,000 square feet. Um so
134yes, so I know that as you're doing your calculations there, you're numbers guy, I can tell. So So yeah, so that'll help you there. Sitting on approximately around 20 acres of land. So those are the numbers in which the project taking a look at because we are going to have some of those athletics and some of those activities. Yeah, so >> I was going to ask, you know, if you're going to have gyms and and stadiums, those things cost. >> They absolutely do and that's why we just actually handed and Jeff can point that out to we can hand those to you. We brought you some pictures of our Nashville Collegiate Prep campus that has the high school up there that has the gymnasium, the football soccer field, the baseball softball field, the black box
135theater for drama, the arts, a college and career center, a student union, and so the high school component of the building in which we are proposed in the application replicates of the features and that's why you see the individual classrooms mentioned in our application. These different rooms that are in our Nashville Collegiate Prep school. We would all We would love for any of you at any time to come up and walk that campus and take a look at what we've created up there as well as what we've done here because the model that we proposed and that's what's in our application says that the facility would be really replicating from a K-8 perspective what you see at Rutherford Collegiate Prep and then the high school is really a snap-on model of what we've done up
136at Nashville Collegiate Prep. So you can see all these additional ancillary facilities designed once again the college and career center, the student union, the black box theater for drama and with an outdoor amphitheater area. There's some once again you'll see that the the arts and athletics are alive and well as we're building that facility and that we look to replicate that same type of experience here at Rutherford Prep. >> Okay. >> So Miss Maxwell >> Yes, Miss >> So I have to disclose now that you're talking about this just occurred to me I think a pass the new facility it's on Cane Ridge right? >> Say that again. >> Is it on Cane Ridge? >> It's on Old Hickory. >> Yes Old Hickory and Pettus right? >> Yes just off of it. >> Correct. >>
137Okay so I pass it all the time on the way to go to my mom's on the backside. I don't see the front side of the school I see the backside of the school and it's it's pretty spacious school. I just went to it there today just when you were just talking to me just now it's a very nice spacious school where it's at. I mean there's a lot of acres and it was a farm wasn't it a farm that you guys bought over there? >> Yes so that >> I think that was a farm on that side cuz I used to live on that side of town when I was little before I moved to Rutherford County but yeah that was a farm and it was a pretty big farm. I don't know who
138who the name of the owner is but yeah I it's a really nice spacious I thought there was a baseball field too. >> There is yes we built it there's a baseball softball field yes and so that's one of the photos in your in your handout there as well so. >> And it's yeah it's a really nice nice facility nice building just from what I saw just literally driving on the road turning on to oh my gosh what is that road right there it's white but that's stop sign. >> Yes thank you Pettus yeah. >> Pettus yeah. >> Yes. >> Yeah it's nice okay yes anybody else? >> I'm sorry. >> Yeah I just want to know what You told me about building a 50 million what would that be the cost per square foot
139do you have that? How much? What to >> I knew if I gave you the numbers you'd start calculating. >> Okay. >> Just to augment what was said before, we have how many kids now? 1,400 roughly throughout all the campuses? RCP and TCP? >> Uh we are at almost 1,500 between the two. >> 1,500 out of how many seats? >> Out of 2895. >> Yeah, so you know, just from a percentage perspective, we're not hardly at 50% of capacity, which again is why those metrics, those commission metrics, really need to be handicapped uh because we are in the ramp-up phase. So, I just wanted to re-augment that. So, thank you. >> And I and I just want to reiterate one more time to you. You saw that even with building the facilities, what they considered
140to be those near-term measures, days cash on hand, etc., all in the green. Uh and so the year-over-year budgets are still projected to move even as the uh and then as the revenues will increase with additional students coming in, you'll see the the the debt to uh ratio will will start to be addressed obviously as the schools grow. >> Long term. >> Yes, Mr. Tidwell. >> I have a question. So, what is the threshold of how many students, you know, that that projection of 700 to open with 765 projected enrollment? What is the threshold that you would fall back to the contingency plan? Is it if you only get 300 students? If you only get 400 students? Or you fall back to sharing a building with RCP currently? >> So, I most of the time
141when we go to the contingency model for this plan, the one of the biggest challenges that I think any of your schools and charter applicants would ever tell you that they face is facilities. And so this was more around the idea that should we on a timeline perspective need the additional year to build the facility, open with that 100 students versus that number there you're talking about from a financial contingency perspective. Um there are some reserves that the uh that the foundation can utilize um should we come in with a smaller number than that 765 from that first year with the budget etc. But there is additional space as we are ramping up RCP on a very strategic timeline. There are ways that they can complement each other by opening here in the fall of
14227 primarily because once again, we see these as two K8s feeding one high school. And so we have a we already have a nested in group of current 7th graders that are going to be freshmen in August of 27. And so as those students matriculate up, I think that it's more likely that we would implement the contingency model based on needing an extra year for the facility than it is from an enrollment standpoint. >> Okay, and that that enrollment what How did you come up with that number? How did you guys get to that number? I mean that seems only reason I'm asking this cuz each charter school that's opened up Dr. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they've been off about half. I don't think anybody's really gotten close. And I understand that's a
143very hard thing to do. I'm just curious how you came up with that particular projection. >> Absolutely. So you know, when we went into the year one for RCP, we had 1700 applications for RCP. Now I think that you know, as you heard from Dr. McCann, we've had great conversations with your all's team and your staff. And one thing you'll find out about our team is we will be very transparent and humble. And and recognize there are some things that we had a chance to reboot that first week over we do differently. And I'll tell you so and we had over we had 700 kids there on day one. >> Oh, wow. >> And so we know that once again, that there are different ways these you know, that as you go and you organize
144and you structure that up. And so ultimately part of that process Dr. McCann talked about about us having a team that provides those direct support to schools. That is one one those where we we gave a little bit too much away on the opening. Um and uh and so let's I say lesson learned. Uh and so um when you go and you provide um the right timeline, the right supports, the right opportunities, including a facility that people will recognize is going to provide them with those long-term opportunities for their children K through 12 to go and take advantage of, once again, all of those opportunities you're talking about. High school, you've got to have those. That is the experience. But for what we would look to offer is the opportunity to do it in a
145600-seat high school, a little bit smaller than what some others might have, and where students could go and dabble in a little bit to different different options. And they could, you know, where um sometimes you have to go and specialize in larger high schools. Um and so but having those amenities and those different opportunities there, um once again, with the right structures, the right marketing and uh enrollment processes and timeline. And that's another reason why when you talk about the contingency plan, timing it out and ensuring that we're ready to rock and roll along those and getting that out as soon as possible um is important. And I'll end with that's why I would say that we would love to partner with you all. And it the sooner that we were given the opportunity to
146start, the faster we can move on getting the facility moving, the faster we can work on going and working with the community and getting going um in order to make that fall of '27 possible. Any delays in timeline makes that a little bit more challenging. Um one that we're up for, but we once again are looking forward to the opportunity to go in and working with you all as partners to make that happen. >> Okay. >> And Mr. Vaughn, you had one last question and then we're going to gavel back in. >> uh so the uh sometime the schedule You know, in that Blackman area, that's the area of growth for Cannon. I guess if I was going to build a charter school, um I'm not sure you'd be in that area cuz they're that's
147probably some of the best schools we have in the whole whole county. And y'all feel comfortable with the 765, but I didn't understand how you arrived at that number, I guess. That's same thing Mr. Tidwell asked. Maybe I didn't get it real quick, but how did y'all arrive at that number? >> Yeah, so the you know, just 2 years ago, once again, we had 1,700 applications for students just in K through 6 um to open up RCP um in that same area. And so um recognizing that that is also an area once again, the whole all of Rutherford County is showing it growth up obviously. And and at the same time um you know, you all have strong schools and you also that's what attracts additional residents. That's one reason why this is one of
148the fastest growing counties. Um and so you know, we worked with the district last time in where to look to target to place Rutherford Collegiate Prep. Um and so we while it would be very advantageous for us to go and place Rutherford Prep in a very um good proximity to Rutherford Collegiate Prep so that they could share services and resources and things etc. Um there is the opportunity there for us to look at um other options near once again, just as you expand that out just a little bit. So, our CEO should be >> Good evening. Um I would like to just say one thing to your question. Back when we um built the current school, one of the very first things we did after the charter was approved was we came and met with
149Dr. Sullivan and his staff and we talked about what area would it be hopeful for us to build a school and they outlined plan and we were very strategic in working through that. Yes, we would love to be able to take our 2K8s and filter into our high school, but I would like to say that when this application is approved, that's one of the very first things we would like to do. Is come back and sit down with the staff and talk through um how we can benefit the overall strategic growth of this county. >> Okay, thank you. If that's okay, we're going to gavel back in and thank you so much for doing that. Okay. Here we go. Uh human resources uh the looks like the other things state wrestling winners, March Madness, and
150Strong Outstanding Staff will be thirsty. >> Correct. >> Next, human resources. >> So, this is an updated job description for Rutherford County athletic director. One thing I will point out is we are that matching this is in our budget request. We have our athletic director and our fine arts coordinator who are overseeing similar things on separate pay scales and I didn't this come through. Um Dr. Halford is a coordinator. The athletic director is at a 1.15, so we're asking to match both of them to a 1.25. Um that'll also help get applicants. Um the other part of this is this job description has a classified portion, but then in the I think it's at R116, but then in the job description it says certified teaching experience. So, it's it's cross-referenced. And so, we would like
151to make it classified and certified so we could have both applications, which is Mr. Harris is a certified person doing it right now, but this job description is old, but got revised, but has classified and certified. So, we're asking to move it from 1.5 to 1.25 to one match Dr. Halford's coordinator position and also make it so we can hire classified and certified the way it originally was. It's like a hodgepodge of a um job description from a couple years ago. Yep. Do what? She's got an office with um her part-time admin assistant, yes. Yep. Yep, it's her admin assistant. Yep. >> This job is getting harder and harder. >> Yeah, a lot of people don't want I think we'll have interest in it, but >> Yeah. >> It's It's a hard job for sure.
152>> Exactly. Okay. Next, nine instruction. Well, we're going to >> Yep, we've already talked about Rutherford, correct? >> Okay, uh number two, updated job description. >> So, this is district textbook and material supervisor, uh district textbook and material supervisor will be responsible for ordering, inventorying, receiving, and providing textbooks to all schools in the district. They'll also provide leadership and support to the office staff. Develop a schedule for distribution of the system mail and monitor the efficiency effectiveness of the delivery services. So, this is also a request um to move from I think it's a classified position right now to move to a certified position um as a supervisor of 1.2. We believe this will help save quite a bit of money because our inventory system right now, we've had somebody who did a great job,
153has been in that role for decades. We need to to move into the current times um with this type of position. Did a great job, but we need to move into tracking these electronically with barcodes so we know exactly where all of our textbooks are. It's a huge investment for our system, so we need to know where those textbooks are. >> Number three. >> Anything you want to add to that, Dr. Chastain? Okay. >> Hey, >> Yeah. >> Madam Chairman, let me go back some. Are there any I think I hear what you're saying, there's a couple of classification difference right here. Are there any other jobs that you've identified that are potential going to come to us in the next year or two that would be an adjustment in description just because of technology
154changes or job description changes or or anything that human resources >> of the budget cycle. >> Right. I I just curious if you identified something in the future. >> We do it constantly. But as we were going through this Dr. Chastain will go over as part of our budget portion. We've talked about it before, but as part of our decades-old process I'm the only one that can approve positions. Dr. Chastain is the only one that can well has to sign off on positions. Dr. Chastain is the only one that can give them out. Dr. Anthony is HR the one that has to post them. So it's kind of our trifecta of making sure positions are approved and she has moved. How many positions have you transferred? So we've transferred 98 positions and then we have
155We're going to talk about it in a little while because of grandfathering we had at the high school level, movement at not filling kindergarten positions, ESL positions. We are right-sizing about 70 positions. And so these are different things we're doing district-wide to help offset some of that. And we've gotten rid of some of our central office positions in Dr. Chastain's department this year. So hopefully some of these will help that. >> And my that was where my brain was going with all of this is because you know if you look at the structure here >> Yep. >> and we're off over here and then you've got leadership >> Yep. >> and then you have I'm going to call them mid-level supervisors for lack of a better way to do it. And then you have the
156structure within the schools. And so that was what I was trying to visualize in my mind just then is where exactly all these people fit. We they don't need to be too far out of >> Correct. >> I'm going to use the word kind of a crude word too far out of whack with one another because they're they're responsible their responsibility level is the same, but the criteria of what their knowledge or uh expertise would be could be offset and you could get to you could get to nitpicking a little bit and I don't want that that's not a successful structure. That's what I'm getting That's what I'm getting around to saying. That that's not a success sustainable or successful structure cuz everybody everybody's needed. Yes. >> And I'm not a micromanager. That's not my
157leadership style. My leadership style is I hire you to do a job, but if you don't do the job, then we'll have a discussion. Here's the expectations. >> Right. >> Do your job and if you don't, then we'll talk about it. But here's the expectations and I expect you to meet them. >> Yep. >> I have a question just for ex- explanation. In number three down there, what is the use of Wired Human What's Wired? >> We're going to get to So, I'll let uh Dr. Chastain talk about that. >> saying I thought >> We're going to get to that one next, so >> What I bet a lot of lot of principals >> It is not now. >> lot of principals would like to have a Wired Human curriculum, believe me. >> Yeah. So,
158this is curriculum instruction seeking approval to pilot the Wired Human curriculum to meet the teen social media and internet safety guidance law TCA 49-6-4601 through 4605 in grades 6 through 8. The curriculum is a value-based curriculum focused on building healthy and safe screens. Modules have been specifically written to be age-appropriate for grades 6 through 8 and contain nine modules that have approval to be delivered by teachers and their counselors depending on the topic. Teacher guides, student journals, and parent packets will be provided at no cost to the district. Dr. Chastain, you want to talk a little bit more about that cuz I know you've had the conversations. >> Yes, and I believe they got copies of the the curriculum. Um it's nine modules. We've been in conversations. We've vetted this uh and continue to vet
159all the pieces as they come in. Um again, just will help us in grades 6 through 8 specifically. This is a curriculum that will help our teachers deliver this to our students with the assistance of our counselors. Um focus primarily on the law as enacted by the state last year. I'd be happy to answer any other questions. >> I'd like to make one comment. >> Yes, Mr. Ball. >> Dr. Sullivan, you've you've made a It's a real good choice in the people you selected to work with you at Central Office. It's amazing to me the amount of work that they get done. Um and it's pretty pretty impressive. >> Thank you. I agree. We have a great team. That's why we're successful. >> Okay. Next. >> Transfer student under discipline one. The board has been
160requested to admit a transfer student from another school system under discipline. The student was expelled for threat of mass violence. According to policy 6.31, the board may deny admission to any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another school system and you'll see director's recommendations to deny. >> Number two is board has been requested to admit a transfer student from another school system under discipline. The student was expelled for possession of a THC vape and this student's uh recommendations to admit in place in our online program cuz that's what we would do. >> Okay. Number 11. >> Engineering construction McFadden property demolition. Engineering construction department request approval to issue an RFP for the demolition of all structures on the five properties being purchased adjacent to McFadden school. This request will allow
161unnecessary liability from these structures to be mitigated until the property is repurposed. >> Okay. Any comments or questions there? >> Mr. Axson. >> Yes, Mr. Rosales. >> Thank you. Yeah, so I just want to say that I think parents are really excited to see that we're moving something. I don't know when we're going to get the funding for this to actually do the renovations and whatever, but it's just exciting to see that we're doing something. >> Yeah. >> Excellent. >> So. >> Yes, Ms. Shaw. >> Did we give them a date to move out? Are they already They This is quick. Oh, okay. Thank you. >> Moving them out. >> Okay. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Number 12. >> All right, next we have and I just totally lost my train of thought. We on financial
162matters left? >> All right, so this is just going to be a quick version because we're still very much um in throws of this. The first page that you have in front of you just gives you kind of five highlights and Mr. Runion can feel free to take over any of this uh that you want to. Um So, first thing is that you have our five highlights. So, we have as of right now and I hope this can increase, but this is where we are right now. Uh 1.7% COLA increase. So, the way we will talk about this is uh the average step increase is 1.6. And so, together is a 3.3% increase. And that is I believe about a half a point higher than the county's going to look at uh from what I've
163heard so far. Of course, it's in the middle of an election season, so you never know what's going to happen there. Right on par with what Murfreesboro city from my understanding is looking at. That could change at any time cuz again, you're right in the middle of an election season, so who knows? But, this is outside of Metro who says they're looking at 4%. Originally, it was 10%. Four is going to keep us much more in line. Uh 1.7, I'm hoping we can get that a little bit higher, but that's where we are right now. Next is medical insurance budget covers half of the state proposed aggregate. So, we talked about state insurance going 10 to 12%. We tried to in this budget to cover half of it. And covering half of 12% is a
164lot. So, we split it basically half. Half of new revenue went to the raise, half of new revenue went to medical insurance. If the Was that a How much did we put to medical insurance? >> If we did it as a full 10% it would have been about $6 million. >> Oh, yeah. It's Yes, if you include 143, 142, it's well over $60 million. This is just 141. Yes, it's in the 70s. Yep. Next, you'll see we are right now at a deficit of 12.9. So, part of this, the way we've always budgeted is a charter school allocation and over 9.5 million of this is well earned. Like that is students that are generating. They are there, they're generating kids. That is students that should be there. The extra 3 million is based on projections.
165Those projections may or may not Historically, the projections have not met, but we have to budget it based on projection. And so, that money very well may come back as a true up, but we're not able to use it for our budget. And so, that's how we have to budget that. The other one is our medical insurance increase. And so, again, we only you'll see it in just a little while. We've been getting in TISA increases 25, 20, $25 million increase. We're only getting about $10 million increase this year. So, that is difference in not growing in ADM and our economically disadvantaged students starting continuing to drop. And as that continues to change, that's going to continue to go down. You'll see nine new district position requests. Those are two in You want to go
166over what those are? >> Yes, so if I can remember off top of my head, there's two positions for nurses, two nursing positions, three positions in transportation, two positions in maintenance, one position in finance, which is an under me for a another purchasing clerk, and then also another position for I don't know this. Uh >> I don't remember the other Is it attendance? >> No. Cuz you have Kelly kept everybody. Kelly said no money for anybody. >> I I had them all but very but that that one's running away. Um I don't know. Let me look at it. I'll I'll I'll I'll tell you what the ninth one is. So. >> I'll take it if it's open. >> You'll take the open position? >> Yeah. Okay. >> So those are your nine, and then you'll
167see the other thing and this is where we got the I hate to say got, but this is where the funding and we talked about this at our retreat, the funding for the increase and the raise uh potential reduction of 70 positions due to decrease in our ADMs. Looking at it from we have moved our and we're going to ask for a waiver from state department to go from 1 to 35, so it goes kind of along with one of the recommendations that concerns and I wouldn't make this a concern from the charter commission now or from the charter application. They were I think one teacher off on the ESL portion. We are also going to ask for a waiver for us to go to 1 to 35 to 1 to 40. So that saves
168us 15 or 20 um the way teaching positions. The way that the state is moving, the state changed to help them last year testing and I won't go down too much in the weeds on this, but we had Was it 6 or 700 more kids? That was more than that. Yeah, we had almost 800 kids if I recall correctly test out that year than we did previously cuz of the change in the testing. And so if we don't start changing that ratio, we're going to hit a cliff in 2 years where we're going to have to move positions out just because of the testing requirements changing. And so as people are resigning, retiring, we just aren't filling those positions back. Same thing with some of our kindergarten and first grade positions. So, we are doing
169that as well because those numbers didn't increase. And so, we've right-sized some of our positions. Grandfathering's going away at the high school. And so, we've Kelly's done a great job. I was with her when she called her principal the other day and the principal didn't want to answer because they thought she was taking another position away from her and I thought she was joking and the principal said, "I thought she was calling with bad news." And she totally was not joking. So. But that's where our 70 positions Do what? It was not Brown's Chapel. So. Oh, Brian's got the other position. >> So, the other position is a middle school athletic trainer. >> Oh, middle school. >> That's what it was. Yes. Anytime we open a new Yes, the middle school athletic trainer. >> Also,
170to add to that, going in fund 143 cafeteria, we've got three full-time positions and five part-time positions budgeted well. >> For the new middle school for the new middle school. >> Yeah, all of it's for the new middle school. >> If you go to the next page, you'll see revenue. So, again, it's not a it's not a very lot of changes to the budget. Next, you'll see revenue. This is not the format you're used to seeing, but we don't have it from Michael yet and because it's a reappraisal year, we're not going to get it till second week of May right before we pass it. The ones in yellow are your maintenance of effort. This has exactly maintenance of effort in it. The only changes you're going to see if you look at 46 510,
171you'll see the TISA increases every year. So, if it's almost right at the bottom of the page, five from the bottom, we were at 334 million, 361 million. This year went up to 373, so an 11 million increase. And a huge portion of that, as we talked about, um 3 million of it's got to go to projected charter school growth. So, that leaves us with about eight to be able to cover raises and for us, a half a percent or 3/4 of a percent is about $4 million. >> I will give you some good news. While we were talking earlier, I did find $700,000 so to go towards TISA. So >> You're the man. >> Towards TISA? >> So I love this time of year cuz Brian will always find Well, not always. Sometimes we'll
172go the wrong way. Our first year together, he accidentally budgeted assistant principals twice and that was a He called me one morning and we were He said, "I'm in a panic. I don't know what to do." I was like, "What happened?" And he We accidentally budgeted assistant principals twice. So, we got through that. Then, that's kind of the basic changes in revenue. So, you will see if you look at the total revenue numbers on the second page, it's an additional revenue of 10,400,000. It's got We talked about this. It's not increasing as much as well because the the grant the um CTE grant I've got innovative schools models grants going away and also that $2,000 um educator save or the education savings account money is going away. Next, if you look to expenditures. So, this
173is just a quick and I know it's a little bit harder read, but this is our format that we had to put together quickly today. You will see and I'll ask Brian to kind of go over any increases. Regular instruction, which is our huge one, is a 1% increase, which is pretty amazing considering we are giving a 1.6% increase, but really it's three or 1.7, but really it's 3.3%. So, 3.3% of $300 million should be a $9 million increase. It's really only going up three cuz of the hard work Kelly has done. And so, greatly appreciate that. And so, next you will see alternative instruction goes up 24%. We are moving a lot of our Simon Springs staff just coding wise. Um so, it's moving more from one side to the other. So, that's what
174that increases from. You also see it's gone up every single year. It's 3.5 to 4.6 to 5.8 as we build that staff out. >> I have a question. >> Yep. >> Since we're talking Since we're talking about budget, Salmon Springs >> Yep. >> We have 50 kids right now, correct? >> It's over that, probably. >> 60-something. >> But there's Which part of it is on the choice side, not the alternative? How many kids >> We don't have any choice seats at Salmon Springs. It's alternative and special education. >> Well, the side where special education, how many kids are there? >> Yeah. What about it? >> How many seats do we have there? >> It depends on each kid's individual needs. It's an IEP team decision. There's no set number. >> There's no set number? >>
175Mhm. >> Okay. So, it's hard to project how many kids to put in there? >> Mhm. For sure. >> Okay. All right, thanks. Okay. >> You'll see special education, vocational education, um, 7% increase. Attendance, we are moving away from Skyward to Synergy. One of the things we messed up when we went from iNow to Skyward is we tried to be cheap and we didn't pay for training. And so, that's not a mistake I was over attendance when that happened and I walked into it and we are not going to be cheap and not give our people the training they need. So, we are paying for that. The next one, health services. Again, we're adding two additional nurses. Uh, other student support, you'll see it's a 10% increase. Last year we were able, um, Instructure is
176what we used for our benchmark testing. The last couple years, it's about a million dollars. We plan on using Synergy probably in one more year, but we didn't want to transition that and the new attendance software at the same time. It's a 10% increase because we have paid for Instructure out of the previous year's budget right into the year when we had additional funds. We may be able to do that again this year. It just depends. So, that's why it looks like a huge increase. >> You will see instructional support. Again, Kelly is done great, minus 4%. Alternative instructional support, additional part-time salary added for um Is that What is SSS? What am I going blank on? Oh, Simon Springs. Okay. Uh special ed support salary and benefits. You have a small line item vocational
177ed support. You have a degree change in benefits. Then you have technology additional equipment. Board of education was minus 21%. Can you explain that? I think that was the yet another changing in how charter schools wanted to be funded from the comptroller. Is that right? >> It was because there was because we pay the state pays their portion of charter schools, we pay our portion, the local portion, and so that reduces the overall charter school amount that we have to pay to them directly. >> Correct. >> So, when some When the comptroller is going to give us good advice about that portion. So, that's why that's negative. You will see office of superintendent went up. That is our new Apptegy portion for us to get started. And then, as we talked about, we're going to
178look at marketing and enrollment so that I know it seems strange for us to have billboards, but that is what everybody does these days to get enrollment. So, we're looking at that. You will see fiscal services additional front office staff for Poplar Hill. Um minus 4% and somewhere was that fiscal service Yes, office of the principal, sorry, was up 3% because of office staff for Poplar Hill. We have bookkeepers, secretaries, assistant principals, principals in office of the principal. Fiscal services went down. HR went up just benefits. This one looks weird, but operation of the plant and maintenance of the plant, we moved all of our custodians into maintenance so we could track it better. Is that correct? And you can explain why. You're the one that decided to do that. >> Well, the way we
179looked at it is 72 710 are two our 72610 is an operation account. 72620 is maintenance. Let me make sure I'm I'm correct on that. Yes. So, we wanted to put the engineering side more so in 72610 and maintenance in the maintenance side. So, we moved custodians and the maintenance personnel from 72610 to 72620. So, it's just a change of account numbers. That's the reason why you see the difference of a negative 18 million and a positive 19 million. It's just moving those salaries around plus the additional cola increase and benefits. 72610 is basically salaries would be Trey and his project managers salaries and benefits and then his request from engineering side. >> Would it also be your electricity, water, sewer, all of those? >> that. Your operations like your electricity, water, sewer, gas. >>
180Electricity is about 12 million, 11 million. >> It is right now. Hopefully, we can continue to get credits like we have been. Yep. >> Right. And you'll get a breakdown where all of that is. I just want to go over highlights today. >> Yep. >> Madam Chair. >> Yes, Mr. Tidwell. >> Yeah, the difference between the two you know, so we're moving it's it's like 1.2 million a little bit over that. What you said you're moving it over to what I'm reading right here. Operation plant moving some guys over to maintenance of plant. I get that, but it's a 1.2 million dollar difference between the movement. What is that? You said it was that's all cola? >> Some of it's cola, medical insurance had to had to change, you know, the account numbers as well.
181So, yeah, it I mean, you're talking three to 400 plus custodians. I mean, you're talking well over 4 to 500 people there that are working. >> They had a 3.3% increase plus 5 6% of their medical insurance. 11 million or 12 million be 49 million 3% of that's million and a half dollars. >> Yep. >> Right? Did I do that right? Somebody correct my math. That's That's probably where it is. Just looking at the increases. >> All right, then your next ones are just very minimal transportation. We have a 2.5% increase for transportation costs with the raise and so we cut some other areas to get to only two. Early childhood was 1%. You'll see regular capital outlays of 10% increase, but it's only $35,000. And we did that to try to order some extra
182desks and chairs and other furniture cuz some of our schools have some older stuff. And then you'll see transfer to other funds. This is where some of our charter school bus stuff is. And so we've had a deficit of 11, then we were seven, right now we're at 12.9. And I think county is comfortable with that especially when you were looking At least I'm going to try to get them comfortable with that especially until we increase maintenance of effort to what we're actually getting closer to bringing in. That's going to That's going to continue to be my argument until we get closer with our constituents of what type of funding we are bringing in um for our district. When we're putting 15, 20 million dollars into fund balance every year. Mhm. So. >> Okay. >>
183Questions? Happy to answer. This is a quick overview. >> Comments. Okay. Moving on. About director's update. >> I'm good. Last Thursday. >> I have two things that I would like to discuss in general discussion, then I'll put it to the floor. Um Bonnie Hearing called me and uh I'm very interested and I think we all really enjoyed his presentation. It's very timely in this Nashville anti-human trafficking and we all received a curriculum and I know we're moving forward, but I'd like to know how we're moving forward. I know we probably are going to do the meetings where we meet with parents at night. I'm just going to be honest with you. I want to move forward past that and I want to get this in the classroom and I want those girls and boys to
184hear from the individuals that would be very impactful so they know when they're being coerced and what's out there. It's just a sign of the times that we're in. Are we What is the timeline as if if as far as that? The >> Obviously we're waiting to the vote on Thursday. The timeline in terms of implementing it in classrooms, we're looking at September, October to give us time to train teachers and get everybody comfortable with the the modules that we've got. >> coming this fall. Okay, that's the question that I had. Okay. >> Working with our counselors and we've got to you know, implement all that and roll that out over the summer and into the fall, but that that is the idea and we've talked with the the people at Wired Human to make
185sure that that is something they're comfortable with the dovetailing other services with it and that is absolutely what we plan to do. >> Okay, thank you. That is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Second thing is I know of at least one person who and I've asked this before, but I just want to make sure and I've asked Dr. Sullivan to see if he could check and see how many other people are reflected about that. They were on the They were a long time employee with the county. They came over with us. They're not a teacher. They came over with us when we changed the state. Now they're getting toward close to retiring and now they've lost their retirement insurance. They're not going to have any. So I was hoping that we could do something. Uh, think it's
186been thrown out there a thousand dollars for insurance for maybe a certain time frame, maybe four five years. Is that something we could look at? And I would also like to know how many have been caught in this because I don't think it's right that if you were with the a loyal employee for 25 some odd years and they that this was inadvertent. They had no idea this was going to happen when they came on over and joined our insurance. There's four people? Okay. >> Yeah, I'll talk to you. >> Yes, thank you. I do appreciate cuz I just I don't think that's right and I want to I want to make it right as much as we can. >> Yeah, they were all county employees and then moved to the school system or vice
187versa. Caught in the transfer from county insurance to state insurance. >> Yeah. Okay. Anybody else have any >> How do we How do we need to do that? Do we need to make a >> You would have to have an official motion, but let me put it on the board agenda officially in May so that it is official. >> On the board agenda. Okay. >> Can you do that on >> With names and everything so that it is totally official in writing. >> Okay. Mr. >> Mr. Okay. JazzFest child, JazzFest. Um, nine bands on Friday, 14 on Saturday that include uh, Belmont and uh, MTSU. Um, there are two uh, nonprofits there that will be giving away a car at between 6:00 and 6:30. So, when we talking about our sponsors and then them as
188well. Uh, there's going to be a custom car, exotic car. Uh, Sloan's is coming with motorcycles, four by four. So, bring your bring your checkbooks uh, cuz you know, there'll be some motorcycles, two wheelers or something to ride. Um, but it's going to be a great two days and hopefully the weather's going to hold out for us May 1st and 2nd. >> Anybody else? >> And I I I got one more. Sorry. Um, I should have mentioned this first, but LaVergne has had two fires. One Sunday and then one this morning and I think we've had some displaced students. So, I want to make mention of that. Hopefully somebody's I've already spoken with Jessica Johnson with the Atlas and she was already speaking to the family from the apartments, but then there was another one
189this morning from a big house on near Shribman. So, she as usual is taking care of those, but hopefully someone in the community will step forward and start a GoFundMe page so we can help take care of them. >> Absolutely. >> Yes, Ms. Rosales. >> Yes, thank you. Last Saturday Breakthrough Tennessee, which is the nonprofit that my family and I started, we did an event at Stewartsboro Elementary School Elementary School for the entire community and we gave away cans of food, boxes of food, brand new socks, brand new shoes, clothes. We even gave away um this >> big old Starbucks tumblers. They're like 30 bucks a piece, so we gave those away. Um lots of hygiene products, but it was very well attended. I think we have we had quite a few families that benefited
190from it and so we hope to do more of that throughout the year and help more families in the community. >> Mr. Tidwell. >> Yeah, I know that the and I don't know if Dr. Sullivan saw this, but the County Commission the bus contract Sorry, not bus contract. The contractor's insurance bus contractor's insurance went to purchasing. Um and I think they opened it up. Did Do we have any >> seen that or heard anything about it yet. >> Okay. Elam told me that it was going to go I think this past week. Um so maybe we can look into that and see what's at what happened while I get at it what what the results were. >> Yeah, thank you for the heads up. >> Yep. >> Anything else? Well, if there's nothing else, we
191are adjourned.