CorpusRecord 74973

Board of Education Work Session - April 7, 2026

A searchable transcript preserved as part of the Discourse Corpus. Passage numbers provide stable references within this record; verify quotations against the original recording when available.

Source
YouTube / RCTV
Date
2026-04-08
Location
Rutherford County, TN
Material
Transcript
Extent
9,523 words · about 53 min
Collected
2026-06-09

Transcript

Verbatim source text

001session for the Rutherford County School Board. We'll be opening the 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 Ms. Katie Darby. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have asked Mr. Tidwell if he would lead us in prayer, please. Let us bow our heads. Father, we're so thankful for this past week and the celebrations that were had and the family time. We're thankful, Lord, for the protection you you have over this county and over this school system, our teachers, our staff. Uh the unforeseen incidents. Lord, we just know that you're in every single piece

002of this school system. We're asking today that you would be with us as we make these decisions um over this district. Just asking for your guidance and your wisdom. And we just ask, Father, that you'd be over those who have joined us tonight, that you give them protection, give them safe travels back home. And we thank you for it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. >> [clears throat] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, everyone. Uh urge you to take a look at the agenda. Take a look at it. Do you see anything that you would like to Any questions or anything that you would like to see

003changed? Moving on to the consent agenda. It's not as lengthy as it has been. I've got one nepotism that we would like to add on Thursday for Rockvale Elementary School custodian Luis Correa that I um his wife is a she works days, he'll be working nights that I forgot to add. So, request that on Thursday. Okay. There is no public comment tonight. Now we go to the uh good parts, the RCS difference. Yep. So, first we have our 2026 Junior ROTC Distinguished Leader Graduate Awards Presentation. Colonel Gaylord, what year is this for us doing this? Is this four or five? As I know this was something we came up with. What year is this of doing this award? This is our fifth year. Fifth. I know it was close. So, appreciate you and all of

004our cadets and all of our um instructors here with us tonight. So, thank you. Dr. Sullivan, board members, we come together this evening again to recognize several [snorts] outstanding JROTC cadet leaders who are about to embark on the next phase of their journeys. This year we are pleased to award 19 deserving cadets with a Rutherford County JROTC Distinguished Leader Graduate Award. These young men and women have demonstrated exceptional leadership over the past four years by exceeding the criteria for this award. Just a few of the criteria are they must have earned a minimum of a 3.5 overall GPA over the four years. They must have also earned a minimum of a 4.0 4.0 GPA in all JROTC instruction. Achieved a minimum of 22 on the ACT and I can tell you many of them [clears

005throat] in this in this lineup here well exceeded that. Participated in a minimum of one extracurricular activity over the past three years and served as a captain either during their junior or senior year. And achieved a minimum of 50 points in each event in the Cadet Challenge Fitness Test. Each cadet will receive the Stones River Brigade Distinguished Leader Graduate Stole, drape with JROTC medallion, and a signed certificate. These items will be worn at their respective graduation ceremonies to represent their exemplary accomplishments. Without further ado, would the presenters please come forward for the presentation of awards. As I call the cadet name, please come forward. Cadet Captain Nicholas A. Cunningham, Blackman High School. >> [applause] >> Cadet Captain Sophia R. Commodore, Blackman High School. >> [applause] >> Cadet Captain Joseph A. Hill, Blackman High School. >>

006[applause] >> Cadet Major Kaylen J. Rice, Blackman High School. >> [applause] >> Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Brody I. Warren, Blackman High School. >> [applause] >> Cadet Colonel Katherine E. Wolvington, Blackman High School and the Stones River Brigade brigade commander. >> [applause] [laughter] >> Cadet Lieutenant Colonel McKenzie B. McCoy, Oakland High School and the Stones River Brigade Executive Officer. >> [applause] >> Cadet Major Raquel M. Hernandez, Oakland High School. >> [applause] [clears throat] >> Cadet Major Rowan D. Harvadson, Riverdale High School. >> [applause] >> Cadet Command Sergeant Major Blake W. Bolden, Riverdale High School. >> [applause] >> Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Baylor P. Pritchett, Rockvale High School. >> [applause] >> Cadet Command Sergeant Major Lydia M. Knight, Rockvale High School and the Stones River Brigade Command Sergeant Major. >> [applause] >> Cadet Command Sergeant Major Abigail M. Hiles,

007Rockvale High School. Cadet First Sergeant Brian R. Wilson, Smyrna High School. Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Savannah B. Stewart, Siegel High School. Cadet Captain Chase M. Broderick, Siegel High School. >> [applause] >> Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Cain H. Cullinane, Stewart's Creek High School. >> [applause] >> Cadet Major Samantha E. Dicks, Stewart's Creek High School. Cadet Captain Gracie E. Hope, Stewart's Creek High School. >> [laughter] >> Ladies and gentlemen, please give these fine cadets another round of applause. >> [applause] >> This concludes our distinguished leader graduate ceremony. Board members, Dr. Sullivan, and the entire administration, thank you for your time. We are going to exit the meeting and take photographs. Y'all enjoy the rest of your evening. Thank you for your time. Can we get one of those coats to wear to graduation? Pardon me, sir? Can we buy

008one of those coats to wear to graduation? Thank you. >> [laughter] >> If I don't have to run, I got you. >> [laughter] >> Outside the waiver for the age thing. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, I know. I'm feeling unloved. Okay. Next we will move on to instruction. So next we have Dr. Jeff McCann speaking to answer questions regarding the charter amendment petition submitted by American Classical Academy Rutherford. Dr. McCann. I think as everyone's aware, we have an amendment that is requesting regarding the school lunch program. Uh and I have no real opinion on this. It's just my only concern, as I've mentioned, is just making sure that our funding isn't impacted um as far as our USDA reimbursements. So that's that's my only concern. Okay. Good evening, everyone. Uh thanks for letting us come speak

009to you tonight and present this to you. Um we're not going to go over the whole amendment with you because we have provided it to you along with the committee's recommendation. But how the process works is um when a charter wishes to amend their current agreement, they submit a letter of intent, which American Classical Academy Rutherford did in time, and then they submitted the the full petition out by the due date in time, and then basically you as a board have 60 days to review and make a determination whether you wish to approve the amendment or not. And if you don't do that within 60 days, it is automatically approved. And that's that's per state charter commission guidelines, okay? And the deadline for that, by the way, is next is April 17th. Um so in

010this Thursday is your last called a regular board meeting before that date. So it is on your agenda to make that decision on Thursday. So I'm here tonight to just answer any questions that you have, maybe provide some clarity. I did print out a little bulleted item list that should be in your packet tonight that says ACAR Amendment Petition Highlights, that just kind of gives the same feedback that you'll find on page four in the full amendment petition, just in a more condensed form to help you wade through that a little quicker. So we'll start out by simply ask Well, first of all, while you're looking at that, the committee that we put together to review this consisted of myself, Ms. Walters, Dr. Margulian, the federal programs director, Monica Ridley, our lead lead counsel here

011for Rutherford County Schools, and Andrea Congleton, our school nutrition director. Um we met with representatives from the school to gain further understanding. We had a virtual meeting with them to to so we could fully understand the the petition and ask any questions we had. Then we have twice met with the general counsel from Tennessee Department of Ed, including their lead counsel, Christie Ballard, to get their legal opinions and thoughts on this as well. So we just wanted you to know what process we have gone through to make that determination. Yes, Mr. Salas. Thank you. Okay, so just for clarity's sake, I haven't had time to um call ACAR, and I was planning to do that. But um just for clarification, if potentially, hypothetically, this would be um denied, does that mean that they will not

012be able to help those with free and reduced lunches? Because isn't the NSP tied to the free and reduced lunch? It is. That doesn't mean that they can't do that on their own. But they can't >> could, but they're Following the National School Lunch Program guarantees that that happens. Right. So I think my question is can a parent still apply for a free and reduced lunch? If we do this waiver, can a parent go to ACAR, take the application for the free and reduced lunch, and then still send it to the federal send it to the um wherever it needs to go. And they get approved, will they be part of the free and reduced lunch program? >> ACAR does engage with the Horizon program, which is what we use in our district to to

013to process our free reduced lunch applications. Um And I'll be honest with you, after that, I don't know where it goes. Um but if they qualify for free and reduced lunch, the school pledges that they will make sure that they have meals provided to them at no cost. They will still provide They're just not going to get a reimbursement. >> They they will get no reimbursements. That is correct. >> No reimbursements. That is correct. But in this there's a And this is a big reason for the the amendment petition they have submitted. There's a lot of requirements that goes along with the National School Lunch Program program to verify that those kids are being provided proper meals. And is that proper meal um based on a dollar amount? I think it's based on nutrition amounts.

014Okay. Thank you. Mr. Tidwell. Yeah, so as as I understand it, the National School Lunch Program the they did a try to get some vendors in over the past 2 years, is that correct? What happened with those vendors? Uh there's a little bit of discrepancy there that I'll talk about in the in the in the highlights. I know this year that um their office and business manager really worked hard to engage in the RFP process and got one one bid submitted, only one, and it was not compliant with what the state required. So it was automatically denied. Now, the first year was a little different. The according to the their board chair, they received no responses. According to the school leader, they received three responses. And his statement to us, and and this is verified

015by a minutes from our meeting at their site visit last year, about this time, that they received three bids, but they were all cost prohibitive. In other words, it was going to cost them more than they wanted to spend. Um but according to their board chair, she says they received none. So I'm not sure who is correct. He is no longer employed there, so. I got you. Um as far as this goes, how does it affect Rutherford County Schools? I mean, that was the initial original question, and I've tried to get some legal opinions about this to kind of clear up that. So far what I have received is that it would not affect Rutherford County Schools per se. So what is the legal opinion from Rutherford County on that? Right. And then I see

016I I just read down here unprecedented, no other school has asked for this waiver. Does that include no other charter school had asked for this waiver in the state as well, or are we just talking about public schools? What does that look like? >> Well, charters are public schools, so there is no public school, including charters, in the state of Tennessee that has this provision waived. And it's posted directly on the if you can dig out that flyer for me where I I I screenshotted the page from the state the state department of Ed's nutrition on website says specifically that all schools in all public schools in Tennessee um participate in the National School Lunch Program. All. It's just a screenshot of it. >> Right. Of the TCA. Um well, I can I guess I

017can send you the the legal opinion that I got on it and you guys can look through that as well just to make sure no stones uncovered here. It sounds like what and I don't have a a firm understanding completely of it as well, but what I've received so far is that the the cost to get everything to where it's at then they're still going to have a lunch program. They're still going to feed the kids. No kid will go without food. That's all verified. You know, that's all pledged. That's correct. So it's not about that. It's just the cost on a small program, a small amount of students. I think it's isn't Spring dealing with this as well like they're I think during their annual reports the Springs what's his name? Mr. Whitworth. >>

018Whitworth. Whitworth. Also brought up that that was one of their highest expenses was the food and it was due to um some of these programs. So when I was looking through the programs that as far as the National School Lunch Program there are some nutritional pieces in there like you know, has certain amount of sodium, certain amount of sugar, can't exceed certain thresholds. >> Right. But I don't know that that means that they're not getting a nutritious meal. It's just by the guidelines that they have put out there. So um I don't know. Is is that what the the the main difference is like is it the equipment to bring it in? Is it the What is the cost prohibitive part that is making it harder on a charter school than it would on a

019public school? He he did not clarify that what that cost prohibitive part was. That was never clarified. And the and the and the amendment really doesn't speak to that. It speaks to the administrative burden um placed on the school for the requirements of following the National School Lunch Program. In other words, they they feel like the paperwork burden for lack of a better word is is more than they want to engage in to be a part of that program. We received a letter. Did you get that Did you get a letter? >> Just today. I did. Okay. And they had put some options at the bottom of that. What were those options? Uh those options were the >> they were asking for. Obviously, these are from A car, not from Tennessee. >> She came today

020and she said you could either you can approve um you can approve it as is or you can agree to a one-year trial um which if if you approve I'll make clarify that. If you approve this amendment, you can place any stipulations you want on it. So you theoretically you could approve this and say we're going to give you a one-year trial and if it if if it's not working out then then you're going to have to join the National School Lunch Program the following year. So she's correct on that is it but but that doesn't have to be something separate. If you approve, you can put whatever stipulation you want on it. Um second and then her third option was to delay for 60 days to offer another 60-day window for you to think

021about it some more, but that is not an option. Our legal opinion on that is the the the charter commission's rules are if you don't vote by April 17th, it is automatically approved. So a postponement or tabling or what that would not be considered >> That's not an >> That would not be considered a decision. Correct. Ms. Maxwell. Ms. Starling real quick and then I'll come right back to you. Dr. McKnight, do we have any kind of a cost analysis on what this looks like? I'm cuz as as we're discussing this, one of the things I'm thinking about is if we could get from A car how much this lunch program is costing them with the admin They're talking about the administrative burden, the amount of hours I believe that it's taking them to to

022report and file the paperwork and all all of that in comparison to what they're projecting it would look like if they were out from underneath that program to see if there is a significant savings and what their plans would be for those savings cuz my understanding is they're wanting to lessen that burden financially and also I think to free up that administrator and put that money back into educating those students. >> No, the money does not The money does not come in to play in the amendment. They don't mention anything about a difference in expenses. That's not what they're what they're asking for in the amendment. They just want a release from the requirements of the National School Lunch Program, but I will say a requirement of the amendment application is you have to submit

0233 years of budget, the current year's budget and your next 2 years budgets and that have to reflect the cost and expenses um and profits as if this were approved. They failed to do that. They're They did not include this year's budget and the next 2 years budgets had zero cost, zero expenses. Their response to that was well, we're not offering the program now, so why would our budget for the next 2 years reflect that? Well, that's exactly what the amendment says you have to include and they did not do that. I've asked for it twice and not gotten it. Because they I would think you would to their point you would have to because if they're saying we're still going to provide meals if you're not in this program and you're not going to

024get reimbursed for this free and reduced meals, then where where is that money coming from and what does that look like in comparison to what they're currently spending to be under the I would be interested to see that. >> I would too. Um so I would too. >> I think this this I don't mind looking into it further, but I don't know that we have all the information to make a decision. Well, you have to make a decision by the 17th. Um and and like I say, that's part of the required component of the amendment petition is to reflect those costs and um revenues in the budget for the next 2 years. They did not do that and I've asked twice for it and not gotten it. Thank you. Ms. Rosales. To bring this up,

025but I need clarification for you because you just said that they do have a plan. They're going to feed them, but here it says concerns and questions to the second bullet, no plan to provide for free and reduced cost meals to um ED families, no indication of how they will be funded and no indication of how the school will meet nutritional standards. So so how can we know if they're going to provide a meal for those who qualify for the free and reduced >> Well, they they they >> if they're not There's no plan. >> Right. They they the the amendment says that they will make ensure that no child goes hungry. So what is the plan? There's no reflection in the plan of number one how that's going to be funded. One of the

026questions that came up with the committee is will the will the parents that pay for their meals be responsible for absorbing the cost of those that get free meals? How is that going to be funded because no reimbursements would be provided from the federal government to provide that. That's not in the plan. That's I personally again, I'm I I was I had I didn't have time to call A car, but I will call them and find out. Um just for transparency sake, I would like to know what that plan is because the whole NSP part of it is for the free and reduced so that you can get the reimbursements. It's >> And so if there's not a plan of how they're going to provide that, then if we're going it it it almost it

027kind of it doesn't um I don't want to say it on camera what I want to say what exactly what I want to say, but um I just feel like we need a plan on that of how they're going to still feed the kids that are going that qualify for free and reduced cost meals since they're not getting that reimbursement because if this is a a burden to them financially or whatever, then that they still have to have money for the free and reduced kids. So how are they going to provide the the how are they going to provide food to those who qualify for the free and reduced if they're not getting that reimbursement? Cuz that will offset the cost, right? Like if you get the reimbursements for the free and reduced, that offsets

028the cost of those who qualify for free and reduced and it's not a burden on the school because they're taking they're getting um money back into the school if that makes sense. So I I personally would like to know how that is going to be taken care of. Mr. Vaughn and then Mr. Tidwell. Yeah. Um if um if we don't get the the 2 years of budget and this year's budget by Thursday night, does that automatically deny their That's totally up to the board. It's totally up to you. You're the decision makers in this. I would think that we would just need to I can't speak for everybody else, but I think we just really need to notify that we don't get them by Thursday night, it's going to put us in a in dire

029straits to be honest with you, so But but let's not let's not let's not doubt their intentions. They certainly have have have good intentions here to provide meals for their kids. They do. They do. And yes, the the administrative burden of following the National School Lunch Program is it's intense. There's a lot to it. Um really is. Um I'm just not sure their plan is is solid enough yet um to ensure the kids will be provided meals that are that are compliant with USDA regulations and those free reduced lunch kids are going to be accounted for. You know, I'll let's say A car has their intentions are correct. I mean, I'm I said to him now I'll agree with you. I think their intentions are spot on. They are. They are. They are. I'm sorry.

030Oh, the other week. Can we Can we just just a minute? Let's get some we got let the board speak first and then we can if y'all want to call her up. Is that all right? Oh, okay. If would you all like to suspend the rules and hear from now or would you rather I was next I was next to speak but I will to yield the floor to Mr. Vaught and I'll second his motion if you want. All in favor say I. Okay. Come on up, please. This is Miranda Greer. She is their their office and business manager and has really been a godsend to the school in my opinion since she has been since she has been hired and has worked her tail end off on this RFP process in trying to get

031the the meal program going. Sorry. So, most of the questions you're asking I'd be the person in our building to answer them. >> [clears throat] >> So, how can I help? Okay. Mr. Table and then I'll go right to you from sharp. All right. My My question is when it comes to the national school lunch program, it is a reimbursable program. So, the money would come back but it where is the cost that makes it not worth going through the entire program? Is it just as Dr. McCann had mentioned, is it because of the administrative opera you know, the the requirements through the admin to keep up with all the compliance? Is it the vendors cost that are compliant and there's so few of them that makes it cost prohibitive? Like where is that? If

032you're going to get reimbursed for it, then what is the cost that's going to make it to where you're still going to feed the kids but you're going to feed them out of pocket with no reimbursement and that's still going to be cheaper than what? I would like to start with saying cost is a big issue but that's not the primary reason we're asking for this. Cost is big. So, you have to have an employee who's monitoring it. And then as a small school, Rutherford County gets all of their food at commodity rates. We have to pay off the shelf rates. So, that's going to be an automatic. I think it at least triples the cost for us there. We don't have a kitchen so we're going to have to be paying shipping costs. Also

033paying people to serve it and all of those things are a little bit going to be built into the other program but when you're talking about reimbursement, if you're not doing every procedure correctly, then you risk the potential of them choosing to not reimburse you. They can come in for a visit and if you're not standing right there with the student and handing it to them and immediately marking it, it becomes more labor intensive and also so many opportunities to not be reimbursed. If you're not on top of it, if you're not providing it your full attention. So, yeah, there's a lot of cost concerns there but more we're trying to get this for our students and we're not finding people who I mean, we had some people who are really really interested in the

034at the very last minute pulled pulled out and didn't provide a bid and we were really depending on them. So, on the flip side, we have found so we're not we're not doing this without like a framework. We know other at least Hillsdale schools who are working with vendors who it saves them so much on the vendor side that they were able to give a discount to those schools. The one that we're modeling it off of gets a 10% discount to the school and that savings has been used to pay for the free and reduced. So, we keep it keep it at the same cost and then that that 10% goes to our free and reduced population. Yeah, and could you explain what lunch looks like with the national school lunch program and what it

035looks like in the alternative? I mean, it these kids are still going to get food. They're still going to get fed. You mentioned employees and running a kitchen and not having a kitchen. So, what does that look like without the national school lunch program? Okay. So, a really interesting place to start is the food program or the breakfast program. So, for breakfast a student is supposed to have a dairy, fruit and a grain, right? So, what that looks like for most free and reduced students for the breakfast program is milk, juice and some kind of cereal or something like that. That is what is recommended is to provide juice and milk but we could actually choose to provide a more nutritious breakfast, something that is nutrition based, a little bit more protein heavy because protein

036is not a consideration and when you're thinking about children who are starting their day but we can actually take a look at that and consider it. You can actually go online and see the rotating recommended free and reduced program menu and it's it's very intense. The alternative that we're looking at is one of the things that we're modeling it off of is a pre-order program that the parents choose. They choose the meal per child and then that is what's delivered. So, it also the parent is able to order two weeks before and then we know that those items are going to be bought and paid for unless the child is sick and then that's a different situation and then the day of we'll have meals in our kitchen or in our fridge for our students

037who did not make that plan but then we also reduce waste. We're not saving money on the per item line but we are saving money on not having waste. Thank you. Miss Miss Sharp, please and then we'll go to Thank you, Madam Chair. Hi. Were you here when we had you were here before, right? Okay. So, there's something in my memory telling me that we were talking about one of our schools one of one of Rutherford County schools had food shipped in. Do you all remember that when we were talking about trying to get them together? Springs. Springs has a kitchen. They they do their in house but it was a Rutherford County school that was near there. Maybe Simon Springs that food is shipped in from another school. I believe it was Campus School.

038Campus School gets their food prepared at prepared at another location and shipped over to them. So does McFadden. McFadden. Yes, so that would be Springs. Not Springs, I'm sorry. Simon Springs. Simon Springs. Thank you for that. So, where did anybody follow up on that and see how if we could work together with that from Simon Springs and because they're so close in proximity there. Simon Springs and A car, they're both right there in La Vergne. Well, I do think it is something we can and should consider if that's possible and we have broached this subject with our food service department from the very beginning but they didn't feel like they had the infrastructure in place to be able to handle another school. Okay. So, but right now everybody's eating. So, we're into the second year

039and we also have how many students that have dietary restrictions and that's one of the other issues because That was one of the questions on the survey that that Miranda and I worked together to to tweak a little bit and there were 12.9% of the students that that responded to this survey, 12.9% that had specific dietary needs. They would have they would have to be accommodated in a school meal program. No pork basically. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Next. Yeah. Okay. I'm so sorry to go back to this. Thank you so much for raising your hand and wanting to but I still have questions for you. >> [laughter] >> I'm sorry. Is it possible for us to get I know we we are making a decision by Thursday. Can we get a plan of how you

040will be how A car will be providing meals for those who are in free and reduced lunch because the whole reason why they're applying is because they are not they either because of an income level, they either qualify for free lunch or maybe it's a reduction. So, if they're coming to the school and they qualify for that, how is A car within the budget able to still accommodate those kids that are free and reduced? Because we I don't we don't have a plan and I know you guys are saying that but I would like to see numbers to see to be able to feel comfortable in making the decision that this is going to happen. I'm not saying it isn't. I just feel like in my opinion that we need to see some numbers in

041order to make sure that this is a solid plan. I can appreciate that you really want to see numbers in front of you but I think it's been said that this has never been done in Tennessee and we don't want to put together a budget and say this is what what it's going to look like when it's completely unrealistic. Instead, what we're trying to do is work inside at any kind of agreement that we get so that we can pad for our free and reduced population. Um and by a lot of vendors are very interested in being able to not do the free and reduced program. And so what we're expecting is a discount on that side and then just not change the general cost. So it wouldn't Sure. It wouldn't be the families necessarily

042covering it. That would not change for the families. We would just be receiving a discount inside of the agreement with that vendor. Okay. But okay, so um I think with any operating budget, you're right, nothing is real, but you have to have projections in order to know what the operation cost is going to operation is going to be. So within that um projection, there is some um details of what some of that money can be allotted to that can go towards the vendors or whatever cuz you still have to have a budget to kind of plan the year to know whether things are going to shake out. And absolutely I agree throughout the year you will have actual and not actual and then you kind of get the leverage of where the cost those are

043at. But just starting out, what could be the projections? It's I think it's what I'm asking. Can Is there a possibility to have a projected um budget? It's not an actual budget, what your the line item is of what you're projecting to um use towards this in the event that um you will not be using uh the NSP portion of it. Again, though, that's what I've asked for twice. >> Yeah. And I Yeah, I think that is Amendment requires the amendment application requires that a budget be submitted as if this were approved. And it's there's a line in their budget for for food service cost and food service revenues. They should be able to at least come up with a prediction of what could be. >> that's what I would like to see. It's a

044prediction. >> Do your best guess because it's not an absolute. It's an estimate. And you know, those type things, but it's something the state's requiring. Yeah. You You're required to do that. So if we don't get this by Thursday night, it's going to put us in a bad bad situation, to be honest with you. I just want to say one thing. I want to help. And it sounds like you're coming to us to looking up to us to help. And I want to do that. Um I'm just speaking for myself. I'm not speaking for the board. I This I feel like for me, we need some of this a little bit of a detailed plan so that we can feel good about a decision to say yes. Because we don't know we can't predict what's

045going to happen after the decision's going to be made, right? No one can predict what's going to happen. But if there's at least a plan of where you were the north of what you were heading, then you know, if things go awry or things go, you know, whatever, then at least as a board member, I can always say, "Well, this was the plan that we're aiming for." But there's always variables you cannot predict or control. But this is where the where they were projecting to um >> [clears throat] >> to follow within. That's that's why I'm asking that. Thank you. Miss Sharp. Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay. I think this is my last. So what you're what you have money for now, you're buying and you're you're having a savings and you're that savings that

046you make on what you buy is going into the reduced free and reduced. They're not buying anything right now. That's what she's saying could happen. Okay. [laughter] Okay. So everybody that attends school there, they're bringing their lunches from home. Currently, yeah. Right. Okay. Um and there was three students that wanted free and reduced? Is that Is that what we No, they're 10%. 10%. Okay. So what What is your projected enrollment for next year? I know that that more than anything will probably help you guys with your lunch program. They're likely going to be very close to their projected capacity of 440. 440. Okay. All right. But right now, people are just bringing their lunch. Everybody's being fed. Is there any chance that the um PTO, cuz I know you have a prob pretty strong PTO,

047would help make up some of the deficiencies in that? I know that's putting you on the spot, but is that a possibility? Deficiencies in As far as free and reduced. Help them make sure. >> Um the Well, I don't know how we could Do you mean in the new program that we're talking about? Okay. Um Uh we haven't asked. I would not presume to to speak for them, especially since I haven't spoken to them about that at all. Yeah. And that's I mean, we have a lot of bad meal debt here and we have, you know, benefactors that are here in the community that will come in and and pay that off. And that would be wonderful if, you know, we didn't have the debt, but it's it's great that we have sponsorships that come

048in from the community. Thank you. That's all. Yes, Dr. Sullivan. Have you guys had conversations with the Tennessee Department of Education, too? Cuz I'm just curious what messages you get. And I know, Dr. McCann, what messages you all get cuz I know we struggle to get some things in writing. Right. And that's that's been our concern. It's just getting anything in writing being the first school. Um no. Like since we're the first school, most of our research has been out of the state. There are schools who are public who are also doing it. Okay. Do you Do you think you could reach out because I think that's some of the hesitancy. I'm reading the room here and I'm thinking that we want to work with you and we might even [snorts] agree to let you

049pilot this program for a year, but one of the stipulations I would like to put on it is that we could get something in writing saying that we as a school system are held harmless, too, regarding your and get some kind I guess the state's blessing, I guess, for this program. I wouldn't even know where to start with that conversation by Thursday. I can probably CC the Commissioner of Education and CC you on it because I'm just going through kind of the state laws and it just says like the Commissioner of Education will submit to the State Board of Education that all schools are in compliance. And so Dr. McCann, I think you've talked to General Counsel more than I have. What has been kind of their conversation? Um ultimately, let me I'll bring up

050the notes from my conversation with them. Thank you. >> No, they've been pretty noncommittal as well. Um so this was this was our conversation with Christy Ballard and Keith Minor, both with the state and and Monica was a part of that conversation as well. Um is that uh number one, it's Tennessee law that schools must provide lunches, obviously. Um and um they were not aware that A car has not provided school lunches for the last 2 years and said that it's within our rights to revoke their charter agreement um for being out of compliance with both the law and their charter agreement. So they basically have been um in violation of law for 2 years and their agreement. Um they suggest that we revisit possibly uh us partnering with them like we talked about um

051like we mentioned how some schools do have their meals made from another school and then shipped over. They highly recommended we consider that. Um and I would be on board with with working on that as well. Uh but in summary, their board they felt I could not agree to this amendment for A car to not be a part of the FSLP, but um they did say they gave some words of caution or they that I'm sorry, they said the board could agree to this amendment if you wanted to. Um but they did offer some words of caution. Okay, and they are that um number one, you've got 10% economically disadvantaged kids who should be receiving free or reduced meals lunches and are presently not. Um strict guidelines to ensure that A car is following federal,

052state, and local school and safety nutrition laws. No red dye, no Uber Eats to name a few. Um A car has not ran a legitimate RFP during the proper time of year um to even see if they could require a vendor under FSLP. They've not put in the effort to secure a vendor through the proper channels. Now I know um Miranda, I can uh um uh vouch for her. She has worked very hard to do that, but she engaged in the process midyear. And the process typically works its way before the year ever starts in the summer. And they've not engaged in that process yet during the summer, which you're more likely to find a vendor willing to jump on board with you. Not many vendors want to take it on in the middle of

053the year. So we felt like that was They felt like that was a significant concern. Um Uh how does A car saying that they do not want to put in the time required and paperwork and it's too much work fall under their mission specific goal or follow their civic virtues mission. Uh and Christy Ballard made it clear that RCS would likely receive some scrutiny if they would grant this amendment. And they did not feel like that if it In In the Here's how the process goes. If you did deny it, they can appeal to the charter commission. Now why the charter commission would have the right to overrule an amendment on one of our agreements, I do not know, but they do have that right. Um so they could always appeal that to the charter

054commission, but they didn't feel like the charter commission would would grant this one either. That's basically the feedback from from them. And they said ultimately to grant this amendment, you would be granting a waiver, okay, um from from state law and state Board of Education rule that says And I know it was disputed in the letter that that you received today that this rule only applies to high school, but it does not. A State Board of Education rule 5200116.05 is titled minimum requirements for non-participation. These are the minimum requirements if a school does not want to participate in the meal program. It says high schools may decline participation in the National School Lunch Program um or the minimum nutrition standards established in this chapter through a district district waiver request to the Department of Education.

055But waivers must be submitted to the Department of Education prior to July 1 annually and waivers will not be granted to any school serving students below grade nine. I've stated that before and that's listed in your in your feedback from the committee as well. Waivers will not be granted to any school serving students below grade nine. So if you approve this, you would be essentially uh granting a waiver for something that's not waivable. That's how we interpret it. >> Dr. Sullivan. Yeah, and ultimately of course this is a board decision. I again like I started, I don't really have an opinion. I just want what the concerns from TDOE mentioned in the minutes just so that when I have to turn in our stuff that we've acknowledged that those were our district concerns cuz I

056do have to report to the commissioner. Madam Chair. Ms. Darby and then Mr. Bond. Yes. Marina, I'm sorry. Do you have an idea of like price range per student per meal that A Carr is looking to stay within? Um under $4 for a meal. Under four? I think that's what we had And would it be possible to get um or if you know, the one bid that you did receive, I know that the state didn't approve it, but do you know what is that what they were charging? Was it $4 a meal? Um I can't I can't remember what they were charging cuz that really wasn't our primary concern. We were trying like they didn't really even have like try to change their bid to meet the RFP. So I was looking for it making

057sure that they were fitting in the criteria and if it didn't matter what they were what they would have said, we would have probably gone with that, honestly. I'm just I would just be nice to know like what an outside vendor is looking to charge you for a service like that cuz I'm curious, Dr. Sullivan, with what what our cost is if they were to pay that $4, would that cover the extra infrastructure we might need to accommodate A Carr? Or can we look and see? I know during that day we were talking about the cost for the vehicles what the um board members for A Carr were concerned about, but we can. >> [snorts] >> It would be good to know, I guess, just to kind of see even if we said, well, in

058order to cover it we'd have to be at $5 a meal or just so we have something >> with Andrew tomorrow? And they would there's some equipment that's required as well. Even the for the schools that we provide for us, we have warming cabinets and serving lines and you have to have staff to serve it. So I mean there's some other things that that play into that, but be glad to look into it. I don't know what I can have for you by Thursday. Yeah, cuz I know that we talked about that with um Dr. McHan we visited right before spring break. We took pictures of their facilities. I forgot about that. That's right. >> And they do make it clear in their amendment that that the cost for the additional equipment um if this

059is approved, now we're not talking about a a delivery van, but if this is approved cuz they would still would need the warming equipment and everything, that the cost will easily be absorbed by current school budgeted funds. So the cost for that is really not a concern here. Um it's not like it they can handle that. Okay. Mr. Bond and Mr. Tidwell. Uh the uh I was involved with a private school for a few years and when you go talk about going and getting one vendor that was interested, we had different vendors every day of the week and it really worked out well and the meals were great. I mean the kids just loved it. Have y'all considered doing that, you know, one day go Chick-fil-A, another day go to Rick's Barbecue, another day go

060to whatever, Chili's, you know, all those people. Yeah, that's a public you can't do that in a public school setting. That would not meet the USDA requirements, I don't believe, for a public school. I don't think that's a viable option for a public school. Yeah. Unless you have something you want to add to Well, I was going to say we we are one of the vendors who did not wind up bidding at the last minute um has kind of a similar setup except for they're independent vendor who provides that and that helps cover that population that has a very specific diet requirements. They can seek out specific chefs or restaurants who can make separate meals for those families that have a more varied um lunch program and and then the parents can specifically look and

061say, that is what I want for my child. We're ordering that. Then that vendor can pre-order from those different locations and then they bring that in. It it opens up the options for the parents completely. Um which is wonderful to be able to provide. Um and then in this situation um just like if you did an RFP for free and reduced um that we would expect the vendors to cover any kind of equipment that they would need to provide to our students. It would be a part of the negotiations. But this opens up the ability to negotiate things like that. Mr. Tidwell. Uh so was this primarily about not enough participation? Then you said it what the main thing was not cost. It was about you don't have enough students that that want the participation

062in this. Is that the main thought? Um the well, no, honestly, the main thought is is we really want to be compliant and we're trying to find a way to feed the students. Um and that's that's always been my primary want. Like I I really did put in a lot of effort. I I chased down vendors this year um to try to get this going and I I only started at the end of July, so I couldn't do anything over the summer, but um it wasn't out of lack of the knowing about us. It wasn't out of lack of communication. It wasn't out of lack of um seeking out the best option. Like we were we were or I was looking all the way like all across Tennessee seeing if people wanted to open up

063something um here and there were people who were who were interested, but I I just don't know why they wound up pulling out at the last minute. So in the end um the concern is to be able to feed the the students um and I don't I don't feel like we have those options really. My last question is if we did this board decide to go with something that was an option to grant it based on stipulations, perhaps, and I'm more speaking to the board, perhaps some of those stipulations would be one, whether or not something could work out with Rutherford County Schools. Two, you said in the summer is a more popular time to get the RFPs out, perhaps you have some success there. Um and my my last a third concern would be

064a compliance issue with Rutherford County. So if we get word during this process, say if the board moves forward with a stipulation that says that you guys are still going to try to get a RFP in the summer. That you're going to take that step even though we are granting the one year waiver. You're still going to try to reach out and get uh uh someone that's in compliant. And then also we're going to see what the research comes back with. Rutherford County is kind of in a partnership. See what that looks like. So there you have two two options on the table. And the last real stipulation would be if it were to if it were to get waived and we go, well, we're going to find out legally rather quickly, I would say,

065um hearing from different counsel, hey, you guys are out of compliance or whatever and and we start that conversation. If that happens, then as part of this stipulation for the one year pilot, Rutherford County reserves the right to back back out. And that puts you back into the place which you're you're currently at. I mean I think that's I think that would alleviate a lot of the concerns up here and it does give you options. Uh and we're having to make this decision on Thursday. Um so I'm just trying to look for some ideas, see what the board wants to think, talk about, and what that looks like. Mr. Bond. Yeah, if if uh we were to grant waiver, uh we would need a letter, I guess, to hold up Rutherford County Schools harmless, I

066think, in in making that decision. Is that something you think we'd be able to get? Uh you are the authorizer for this school. The decisions you make, you are liable for. You cannot get a waiver saying that we're not liable for a decision we've made. Hold harmless just because it means we don't know. Hm. I got you. Any other questions from anyone else? Thank you so much. >> Long long story short, let me just and I'll wrap it up is is we've got to get meals provided for these kids at this school and they and they really want to do that. They they they really truly want to do that. Um so but again, you know, you you have the report from the committee that we put together that includes our attorney, our our food

067service director, our federal programs director, um and the charter schools department, you know, you can you can take it for what it's worth. You can you can trust our judgment or not or make it this whatever decision you feel like you need to make. Um ultimately, we are not recommending that you that you approve this. Just it it just falls short in a couple areas. That that the budget is not what was not submitted as it should. Um and we have concerns over um compliance with with state state laws and rules. Um and in in our conversations with the state legal department kind of back that up. Mr. Boyd. Oh, I got a half a dozen questions. I'm sorry. I've just kind of listened to the whole discussion. And And Trey, some of this may

068it Mr. Lee, help me with some of these. What's our smallest school that we provide lunch to? Population-wise. >> Eagleville and Spring. And it is varies. 50-ish. Right now. Okay. Um On their application, where'd she go? She left. What percent What I'm sorry. What percentage of your students are free and reduced lunch or qualify? State report card says 10% at the end of last year. They're reporting 7 and 1/2% right now. >> So, roughly four 40 kids 40 I mean, 440 population, right? 10% of them or less. It's about 30 kids, I'd say, right now. 30 kids. All right. Trey, how much does it cost us to prepare a meal? And And I know it varies from school to school because you got an economy of scale, but say a 500 student school. >> I'll

069have that for you on Thursday. Cuz I it varies, and I want to give this less than $4. That's what I was fixing to say, so you could do you can do it for less than $4, right? In in that school. Okay. You got to have the warm ring and all that kind of stuff. >> Right. I'm just I'm trying to run numbers through my head right now about where's the cost savings, what's going to happen. You know, they're looking at getting reimbursed for less than 10% of the kids, so this becomes this becomes just a an efficiency criteria, right? >> that, that I think, and I'm speaking for this young lady, the part that seems to be continually missed is the paperwork side of keeping up with this and following through to get all

070this reimbursed. >> That That That's what I'm running the numbers in my head right now. I'm And And I'm I'm speaking for this young lady sitting over here, and I say that based on my age, but it's a mountain of paperwork that you have to do to comply with this program. It's not Money is an issue, but the paperwork is a huge problem. Well, it it it becomes an issue because you got labor cost in doing the paperwork. So, if it's Forgive me, I'm not real quick on this, but if it's $4 and you got 40 kids and it's 180 days, am I doing that right? $4, 40 kids, 180 days. $28,800, that doesn't pay for the labor to do the paperwork. Am I Am I Well, I'm just I I'm just on just figuring

071one meal. >> kick behind this, and I'm speaking I mean, is that a fair way to present it for you guys? Is that what I'm getting to here? It I think if we just if we just miss something very mild, I'm if if they come and do a surprise visit, cuz I actually went to >> And you lose that $30,000, and and so it's not a big deal. Your Your contention here is you can do it more efficiently or at least as cheap without having to deal with it. Right. Is that Yeah. Now, I'm trying to put words in your mouth, but that's where I was going with this. What All right, what is our what's population free and reduced lunch for us? In the >> from school to school. In the 40s with true

072free and reduced lunch, the amount of kids that fill it out. >> It's about 40%. >> you look at the state report card, it's 18%. So, we couldn't I mean, we couldn't get a waiver. That The only thing that concerns me, and I think this is where you Caleb was going with this, is if we grant some type of waiver or a pilot program, something like that, does that jeopardize the 40% of the students that we serve every day? That's millions of dollars. >> There's a couple schools I'd like to have a waiver from. I mean, there are. I have a couple of schools that would be I'd love to have a waiver from that. Well, that's what I was fixing to say. Well, anyway, I was fixing to go somewhere else with that, but

073but yeah, I'm I'm just trying to I'm trying to get it to a dollars and cents for me. And And I see the It's That's what the It's a labor savings. Anyway, that's I think that was all I had. As a district have Oh, I know. As a district, have we ever not been in compliance with USDA? No. We've never been fined. We've never been put on probation or anything like that to anybody's knowledge in this room, right? All right. In mine and Dr. Sullivan's tenure, That That Yeah. That's what I I thought I knew the answer to that, but I want to make sure. So, that that is the reluctance. I'm not speaking for the rest of the board, but I'm speaking for me. That is the reluctant reluctance for me is to grant

074it or to give you a pilot program and us be subject to you know, not being in compliance for the rest of the district cuz you're part of our district, right? I have to look at it that way. So, all right. Thank you. Is there someone over here that would like to speak? Okay. Is there anyone else that would like to speak? >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. Thank you. That was a lot, but we appreciate it. Anything else for me? An- An- Any other questions for Dr. McCann? Thank you, sir. >> Just a reminder, the amendment is not about whether or not they'll provide meals for free reduced lunch kids. They will do that according to this amendment. It's just about removing that imposing burdensome and imperia- what they describe as empirically impractical requirements

075of the federal school lunch program that has made it hard for them to develop a meal program. Okay. Thank you. Jeff, you did a lot of good work on this. Well, I'm available for any questions you have between now and Thursday if you want. Just um give us a shout, okay? Thank you, sir. Thank you. Part Our part two of instruction is you see the spring 2026 health adoption committee um below. As recommended. Any comments or questions there? I think we need to go back in session. Mr. Tidwell. Yes, I'm sorry. I think we need to come back in session from these items. >> You did not. Okay. We're back in session. I'm so sorry. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you for that reminder. Next, we go to legal. All right. First, you have

076transfer student under discipline. One, the board's been requested to admit a transfer student from another school system under discipline. The student was expelled for threat of mass violence. According to policy 6.318, the board may deny admissions of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another school system while under suspension or expulsion. Director of schools recommendation is to deny. Okay. Next. This is one of the weirdest strange things, and Dr. Martin can attest to this cuz we were at It's a finally coming to fruition. So, the long back story behind this was during last year's budget passing at the county commission. This is Rockvale High CTE building request, Rutherford County Schools. Career and Technical Education Department is proposing the purchase and installation of 130 by 40 metal storage building for the

077Rockvale High School Emergency Services Program. CTE Department will be paid for the project using Tennessee Innovative Schools Model Grant Program. The cost of this project is approximately 60,000. The storage building will be used to store 2005 Freightliner LaFrance fire apparatus that was recently donated to the Rutherford County Schools CTE Department by the Rutherford County Commission and Chief Farley, as well as additional emergency and first responder equipment for the fire management, law enforcement CTE programs. Engineering and Construction reviewed the request and has no objections. And so, this is a great deal, so I always try to find anything I can for our school arguing over who or I guess proposing who could get more money for volunteer fire departments. And it was Almaville, Christiana, everybody was arguing. I made a comment that the county school system

078would like to have our own fire department. I didn't get the fire department, but I got a fire truck. This is how that This is how that came out of it. Chief Farley said, "You really need a fire truck." So, I text Brian Lewis, and we really did need one for our fire safety. And so, I appreciate Chief Farley staying with this, and it's taken about a year, but we finally got the title to it last week. And so, a couple weeks ago, so it it came to fruition. So, it it can be driven um around to in service, but we can use it and hook it up and get kids connected to it, so it's a great donation. I didn't get the I didn't get the fire department, but this is a good second.

079>> go from campus to campus to put out fires? No, it can't go put out fires, but it is a good good training for the kids. That's awesome. >> [snorts] >> Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Next. Rockvale High concrete request, Principal Steve Luker is requesting to partner with MTSU concrete program to place additional concrete around the football stadium and the middle school baseball softball area. The cost for this project is 8 to 10,000 materials and will be utilizing capital projects funds. Engineering and Construction reviewed the request and has no Can I ask what the additional concrete is for? Is it going to be parking? Is it going to be >> Sidewalk, isn't it? Sidewalks. Pedestrian area to help for It'll help the middle school as much as it will the high school. It's behind the home

080stadium where the baseball softball field is. >> Okay. There's some areas back there that since all the everything's been built around there now, when it rains, it holds water. >> Yeah. Kind of makes a muddy area, so we've been working with the school to gradually get it concreted in so they can get rid of the mud. And it benefits the middle and the high school. And MTSU is donating all the labor. Well, that's nice of them. Okay, thank you. Any questions or comments? Okay, next number three. Transportation. So, this is summer camp information application changes to 2026, Mr. Lee. We have made a couple of tweaks hoping that it will make things a little bit better. So, this is not for your vote, it's for your information. Um we have the letter We have the

081letter that's going out. If you approve it Thursday, it'd go out Friday to the contractors. And it's basically the application for the summer camp bus routes. There's not very many of them. In the past, they've just been able to pick one and we sometimes don't have enough contractors to sign up for the summer cuz it's longer routes. So, what we've just thought about doing this year is list all the sites and let everybody that's interested rank one through nine where they would like to be so that I don't we don't have to go back to them again. It's still a drawing. It's still the same thing we've done. It's just basically trying to streamline it and let them select if they want to be in three zones or two zones. It gives us more candidates

082if they and also gives them more opportunities to get drawn. Trying to give them more opportunities and save us from having to go back and ask for more people. But anyway, it's all there for your review. Just letting you know that it's going to go out uh on Friday and all the dates to hit and when the drawing will be and all that. Okay. Thank you. Number four. This is kind of exciting. It is now. I appreciate Mr. Pedigo. Um Mr. Lee, as I know they worked on this all over spring break. Uh I saw the text messages and emails coming through the entire time. And so, Eagleville football soccer request, Principal Tim Pedigo is requesting to enter into a partnership with Smyrna Ready Mix to install synthetic turf field on the football field. Project

083will be completed by Warner Athletic at a cost of $1.1 million. Warner Athletic will acquire all required TDEC permits as part of this project. Greg Souls has agreed to move the excavated materials to complete the soccer field previously approved by the board. The Souls will also install irrigation for the soccer field in the middle school practice field at a cost of $81,500. The Souls are doing this work through donation. Soccer field project is still under TDEC permit and this project cannot exceed the elevation shown on those drawings. And all projects are at cost to the board. So, appreciate all those donations. Smyrna Ready Mix, Souls, amazing. Yes. One clarification and it's in the packet from Warner, but they are also including the infield for softball and baseball. It That's not in the motion, but it's

084also it's part of the packet. So, I want to make sure that everything's out there. So, it's the football field complete, infield for softball and baseball. Mr. Souls kind of a secondary project, but they're tied together cuz we're going to take the dirt that's excavated for the new turf and take it to the other side of the school for the soccer field. So, lot going on there. Mr. Bott. You know, I we can't thank enough for Smyrna Ready Mix and the Souls and everybody involved in this because you know, I'll tell you I wish every stakeholder would take note and and try to realize the value this is to our schools. This is something that Eagleville High School is going to have that otherwise probably never could have raised some for you know, that's a

085lot of money to raise. And to be given and donated is just astronomical. Smyrna Ready Mix has done this over and over and over for all of our sealed fields here in Rutherford County. And I just can't tell you how much that we need recognize and support these people because of the things they do for us. It's something they don't have to do, but they have done it. And it's it's uh I just like to say, you know, we can't support them enough for what they've done for us. Yes. Any other com- comments or questions? Very happy. Yeah. Very happy. Very good note. Um next financial update. On a personal note, Mr. Pedigo, are you when this is done, are you going to send a picture of the baseball field to TSSAA? We um are

086no longer hosting TSSAA's 1A um baseball championship because of some shenanigans with TSSAA. So, uh and I'll leave I'll leave it at that. We can discuss afterwards. So, Not hosting. We'll send a picture to them after this. All right. Uh-huh. Yep. Questioning whether or not our facilities were nice enough. Oh, my. Didn't go over well. All right. So, next we have financial update. We're going to do fund 143 on Thursday. Next, I just emailed everybody and I forgot to print it, but just to give you we just discussed these about 3 weeks ago. Our 141 where our budgets are and you have a copy of this, but I do want to go over revenue real quick. And I just emailed everybody. Just a quick changes. Property tax now has gone over and we talk about

087what our updates are. And so, as we talk about the county school system doesn't set revenue. And so, the revenue is set by the county courthouse and the finance director. Anything that goes above the revenue collected then goes into our fund balance. And so, as an example, property tax, we budget conservatively. The courthouse budgeted 75 million. We are have already collected 76 million this year. And so, it's already above. Local option sales tax that was budgeted at 104 million. Uh and it's collected 76 million. It's always about 2 months behind. And so, it's trending in the right direction as well. Investment income, we talked about this at our retreat. It was budgeted at 1.5. It's already at 2.7. And so, well above income is is coming in exactly like we would like. Couple things, you

088have these in front of you just for you to have. We just looked at these a couple weeks ago. Not a whole lot has changed. Brian, have the amendments gone through on these now yet? Yes, I put the amendments for the media cleanup in there already. The only ones that aren't in there is the one for transportation for the buses. Perfect. So, just as you're kind of we're not going to go through all these in detail. If you want me to go over any of these on Thursday, please just let me know. A couple things that we're looking at. With teachers, again, we changed this year. One of the things you're going to see in that 116 line item, this has about 9 or 10 million dollars extra in it because of the $2,000 bonus

089last year. So, that number is higher. And so, that 67% is a little bit higher. We also are paying now in August for new teachers. And so, normally we have we're normally in the low 50s or high 50s, 60s, but we're now paying throughout the year instead of having so many months ahead. So, that number is perfectly fine. You're going to see medical insurance throughout some of these that are a little bit higher. If you guys will remember back in September, we passed to cover a little bit more of that insurance. And so, when we do our end of the year cleanup amendment, that'll be where we put some of that funding into is into medical insurance. So, you're going to see that a little bit higher. Um but throughout that, you're going to look

090to see teachers somewhere between the 60s and 70s. And if there's some that are over, uh we may just have to do a couple cleanup amendments with funding the rest of the year. But overall, everything and he did talk about how transportation as you get towards the end of that is not showing yet with that amendment yet. So, the courthouse records all those and they haven't recorded that amendment yet. Okay. So, and again, happy to answer any of those on Thursday. Any questions or comments? Dr. Sullivan. Okay. Okay. Director Sullivan. I'll do Thursday. Okay. Is there anything in general discussion you'd like to speak with about tonight? Okay. Well, getting out of here under seven. That's good. If there's no other uh business, we are adjourned.

This transcript may contain errors introduced by automated or source-provided captioning. Bracketed descriptions such as [Music] are retained from the source. Passage divisions are editorial aids and do not alter the wording.