001Dear heavenly father, Lord, we just want to come before you today and say thank you for giving us a place to meet. Um we ask that you would be with us and to guide us in the decisions that we are asked to make for our district. We thank you for the fabulous district that Rutherford County is and we pray that you would pour out your blessings upon us. Please be with us. Give us safe travels and um watch over everyone this holiday season. Lord, it is in your name I pray. Amen. >> Amen. I aliance 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. [snorts] First up, we have the agenda. Everyone got a chance to
002take a look at the agenda and any questions or comments. Okay, next we have the consent agenda. Take give you just a second to look at that. Any questions, comments? Anything to add, Dr. Slo? Okay. >> Then next we'll move on to Rutherford Crowd. >> That'll be Thursday. We have quite a a packed group of guests on Thursday. Mr. Be aware >> lot of recognition. >> Yes, there is quite a few there. Yes. Yes. Uh we will also have a guest speaker on Thursday. No public comments tonight. That will be for Thursday as well. And now we go to the board items. Um and this is connected somewhat well is connected to the guest speaker with Mr. Blair and Mrs. Bratton who were going to present an overview of the Rutherford County Schools Foundation. The
003board this past summer attended the TSBA law conference where they talked about foundations having to go through the schools uh school support organization through the county books. And so Mr. Reid has worked with the foundation on this and so this is kind of a little bit of an update and they'll speak a lot more to it. I'm not involved with the foundation but this it gives a little bit of background. The Rutherford County Schools Foundation has been created to provide a charitable foundation to support projects and programs benefiting the Rutherford County school system and its students. The foundation will provide a mechanism to raise significant contributions for projects beyond what's capable of being funded through tax revenues. The foundation will involve the participation of local businesses loaders who will seek charitable contributions per RCS board
004policy 2.404. Only a group organization that has a cooperative agreement with the board may use the name or logo of the school district to solicit or raise money, materials, property, security services, or other things of value. The Rutherford County Schools Foundation has provided some information requested from the board's written cooperative agreement. It can be recognized as an RCS SSO. It's noted this SSO has not received an IRS determination letter to be recognized as a 501c3 nonprofit entity that is compliance with the board of education's written cooperative agreement. This IRS letter allows the SSO to operate out of a checking account that's separate from the Rutherford County School District funds. Until the letter of determination is needed, the SSO will utilize the Rutherford County Schools District funds for all its financial activities and be subject to
005the BOE financial policies and procedures. Also, the approval is contingent upon the organization providing a detailed financial policy list of officers with titles, training acknowledgement, and annual cooperative agreement. All of which the board attorney has been notified about. So, this allows them to start collecting money while they're working on this. very similar to what our sports organizations do. This is just for the district instead of a school. >> Okay, any questions? Okay, next we run to go to U. >> Yes, this is all >> Should have one a little bit in front of you. Oh, yes. There is some plugs right there. >> Yeah, Matt's got you. >> Yep. >> No, go ahead. No, that's important. Yeah. >> And so, while they're doing that, I'm going to ask um Rob Schwarz with RSP to go
006ahead and come up. The next thing we have are elementary school reszoning and middle school resoning. This is a work session. So, not a lot of information has changed since we did this in November. We had a little bit over 450 comments submitted to us through Microsoft forms. Mr. Evans, do you know how many clicks were on our QR code? I know it was well over 17,000 back a couple weeks ago. >> Thousand. Now, I had the exact number right before the meeting and I forgot the number. [clears throat] >> I'm sorry. It's uh well over 20,000 now. >> Okay. >> So, that was from the yard signs that we put at all the middle schools and then the four elementary schools that were under discussion, too. Perfect. So, just a couple updates because I
007think it is imperative the director gives some guidance. Of course, whatever the board decides to do is is whatever the board um up to their jurisdiction. When it comes to elementary, my recommendation is to adopt concept one or concept two. Um there are pros and cons to both concepts. Um but excluding the Walter Hill and Wilson areas that we have talked about previously. We have talked about prek. I emailed everyone. Uh prek programs, whether they're integrated prek or our voluntary prek programs. Uh the board of course can get involved in placing those if they would so want to. Traditionally, it has been the curriculum and instruction assistant superintendent and director who were and our special education coordinator who placed those based on need, income, and space throughout the county. And so, unless there's some direction
008the board wants to take to to get involved in placing those, we will wait to see where space is available for prek. But that is our recommendation. um for middle school has a lot of a lot of conversation as well based on trying to fill our available seats for middle school. My recommendation is concept 2. Something that is a little bit different that we haven't talked a lot about. I asked James to go back today and every middle school except for Oakland and Witworth. So Oakland and Witworth are a little bit different because we closed Central Middle School and opened Oakland and Witworth at closing of those. Every other middle school we have opened, we've grandfathered eighth graders. And so from a space perspective, that is not what is best from a space perspective. Um
009so it will cost us a little bit more. We'll have duplicative teachers in some spots. Um, but I do believe what's best for our students is to grandfather eighth graders. I have an eighth grader and so I go back to he wouldn't be impacted by this because he'd be in ninth grade next year but in having an I go back to myself in eighth grade. My eighth grade basketball coach left and that was a traumatic experience. Your eighth grade coach leaving, let alone going to a new school. And so I'm a middle school proponent. That's what my background is. I love middle school and that's a that's a tough age is for middle school. Whatever the board wants to decide, I would definitely my recommendation is concept two to grandfather eighth graders to make sure
010that that does have to have parent transportation though. That's traditionally what we've been it has to have their own transportation. If we get beyond doing eighth grade, then we really aren't making a big impact on zoning. So only eighth grade. >> Just Miss Sharp had actually put her hand up first. I'm sorry. And I'll I promise I'll give it to you. Yes, M. >> Um Dr. Sullivan, I think I asked you if we went ahead and closed off enrollment at Walter Hill now. >> Yeah. >> Can we do that and that way the parents don't start and then they have to move >> and that may reduce the number of kids that we have to yeah move to that. >> That's a great suggestion. I don't think closing off is needed yet. Uh we have
011some a huge town home development over the next 5 years that's projected. What I was trying to do with that Walter Hill Wilson was this is my fourth year as director and the fourth year some of you have served with me or longer and we have reszoned every year and just like you all I'm sick and tired of resoning and so I don't think we need to do that yet with these four potential classrooms. We've got a couple other classrooms. I was just trying to look three or four years down the >> because I know I was on the board when we moved them from Wilson County to Walter Hill. Yes. >> So now we're moving them back. I think we'll be okay. Okay, I'm going to look at it one more time, but I
012think we're fine. >> Okay, thank you. Okay, Mr. Ba, >> question I had. Dr. Sman, how many potential eighth graders are we talking about? >> You've got just over 4,000 eighth graders. Um, with taking a guess, and it's truly just a guess at how many are impacted by resoning, I'd say 15 to 20%. All I have to go off is I opened Rocky Fork with rezoning eighth graders and I only had 70 or of my 300 show up. Um, okay. >> So, it's a pretty large number. It's going to vary based on the ability of parents to provide transportation because of your different areas of the county. With this being a countywide reszone, right, >> some of your areas are going to provide transportation better than the others. >> Right. Right. >> And it it
013will, just so everyone, it will have an extra cost for you still got to have teachers at both schools because what we usually get additional funding when we open a school. So, we get a little bit of extra funding. we would go ahead and establish the entire eighth grade teacher class so that it's ready because going back and asking the funding next year is is tough. >> Yeah. So, basically what you're saying is you may have some eighth grade classes that could be they could be overloaded in a couple of schools and they could be very very small. So, it could be a great experience for some of these new schools to have those small classrooms. >> Right. >> It helps start off well. It does not help you athletically to start off at. It's
014going to be a challenge. >> We got to give them that second. >> Yes. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> Darby, >> sorry. Um, we kind of jumped straight to the middle school, so I'm going to back up just a little bit on the elementary side. Um, >> I know you had sent, I believe, the whole board the numbers that I had asked for. >> He's going to go over some of that, too. I just was given two recommendations and gotcha. >> Then we're going to go over the whole thing. Um, I just wanted to bring forward something I have been thinking about and I would really like to see us look at capping Stewarts Creek similarly to how we did before. Whether that's effective January 1st, if you move into the Stewarts Creek Elementary zone,
015you're going to Brown's Chapel. Um, but I would really also like for the board to consider adding an elementary school onto the five-year plan. Um, I think it's very obvious that that area needs another elementary school. I mean, Stewart's Creek has been over capacity for, I don't know, seven or eight years at this point. We've opened a new elementary school and that still hasn't fixed the problem. They're still building like right in and around that school. So, um, I would love to see us put something in place that will hopefully more permanently address the issue rather than a reasonzoning back and forth. So, I just kind of wanted to throw it out there for the board to consider before the vote on Thursday as an option. >> Okay. Miss Maxwell, >> respond to that. >>
016Mr. Yes, go ahead. >> I'll have a five-year plan on our January 8th agenda because I've been requested for it as well from the county commission, but I said we have to decide reszoning before we do our five-year plan. So, definitely, >> Mr. Fallen, we're going to have a deadline for the middle schools to declare, are they going to follow? >> Yes. Um, last year we did January 31st. I would like to do probably, we're going to talk internally. I would recommend January 15th earlier, two weeks earlier. I know that's earlier than the January 31st deadline, but we have to move positions all across the district. So, the January 31st deadline is our open seats districtwide. for grandfathering. Having a two-eek window would help us be able to go ahead because we start we start
017our budget cycle next Thursday. I know that that's crazy, but uh internally we start budget next Thursday. So for grandfathering of parents by January, I don't know if that's even a Friday. January 16th would be a Friday. Dr. Justine, I'm looking at you. Does that seem [clears throat] >> Dr. McCann's back there because he's the one that's going to have to process all of these probably having them separate. Would that help instead of both deadlines hitting at the same time? Okay. >> Okay. Males. Yes. >> Dr. Sullivan, thank you so much for making that recommendation to grandfather um the incoming seventh graders to the eighth grade because we've been receiving a ton of emails from parents that are really wanting to do that. Um, second of all, since you have the renew recommendation for the
018motion, can we get and revised? >> Yep. I'll update them. We'll update them tonight and Okay. send them out tomorrow. >> Perfect. That way we can go ahead and communicate to the parents y that grandfathering the seventh graders at the recommendation of the director. >> Um, incoming seventh graders to eighth graders um is more possible that's going to happen. So, thank you for making that recommendation. >> Can I real quick? I think it's important that we're all unified if we go that route to the county commission that that does add extra cost and that we're all just unified that that's what's best for our students. >> I have another question. Um, thank you for the grandfathering. Will you be open to increasing a few of the seats for choice to let those that are not
019in eighth grade? >> I think it's better with the lack of stability we already have now to leave it at 10. >> Okay. >> Yep. Okay. Did Okay. Yeah, I thought he hit. So, Mr. and then Miss Sharp. >> Dr. S, I know we're kind of bouncing back and forth between elementary and middle. So, I'm going to go back to middle here for a second. Um, there was a uh a particular subdivision that I received a lot of emails from. I I emailed you about it. We had had a few conversations, but could you just speak to Barfield Downs? >> Yeah, Barfield Downs. Uh, happened to be leaving Barfield yesterday, so I drove through that as we were talking about it. That area was traditionally Christiana. Rockville opened, went to Rockville. Now that has development
020has happened around Rockville, what is happening across our district. Now the ones that are closer to Rockville, that density shrinks and to relieve students from Rockville because it's our second largest second largest middle school in the state. Christian Middle is the best place for those students based on number especially since we are looking at grandfathering eighth graders. It is the more long-term solution instead of bouncing students back and forth. Long-term, once that Burgess Farms neighborhood hits off of 269, we'll need a middle school there at some point. Uh that area, I mean, I hate that, but that area is going to have to get a new a middle school at some point down the road. >> And the the project you're referring to, that's the Burgess property. >> Yeah, the Burgess Farms. It's a 6
021to 700 home property and it's project in the next five years I believe on RSPS >> and we talked about uh in our five-year plan about them possibly having middle school on the southern end probably in the next three years or so. >> Um so this would not be just for those that that are listening that are like are you going to are we going to swap it up again and kick come back to you know Rockville again and kick them back to Christian again? That's unlikely. >> Unlikely. Yes. >> Okay. Well, thank [clears throat] you for looking in. >> Yeah, I hate that, but they're they would be where a new school would hopefully go. >> Miss Sharp, >> chair, so [laughter] I don't know what the solution is, but having my son be
022at Steuart's Creek in the middle school and when they open the high school, it was overzoned and it was already over capacity. So, they took everybody who had his own exception away. We also opened Rockville, it was overzone and now we have 10, is it just 10 portables? >> 10 portables. So, I understand the county commissioners want us to fill up these schools, but when we do that, that's what's really putting this that's what's pulling the trigger for all these reszones because the neighborhoods are not fully developed and they're not densely populated. So, when we fill up the school, when the neighborhood's not densely populated, more people move in there, and that triggers the reasonzoning. And I know our parents would probably rather pay for our schools to maybe not be at capacity or not
023as full than continue re reszoning. So I don't know I don't know what the solution is, but it's something we need to talk to the county commissioners about because that's what's happening. We're having to reszone because more people are coming in. It's less densely populated when we fill up the school and the school's already filled up and then more people move in and then we have to reszone. So, I I I don't know, but we did we need to I know it's just changing the county commissioner's mind. I get the I get the money. I get the I get the whole thing, but that's what's putting us in this cycle of having to reszone. >> Mr. Darby. >> Okay. I'm sorry, Mr. B. >> Did you I thought you were going to say something, but
024that's all right. Now, what what Rob's been standing here very patient with us. the projected numbers you you carry everything out for us five years right now. Right. Correct. So if we take the data and I and I'm a data driven person, right? We we know what's going to happen. We see what's going to happen. If these numbers get updated every year, there's your proof to the commission about where it's going. Now, if if my numbers are right, and this may be something that you could help me with, but basically in the budget every year, if I figure it if I figured it correctly, we spend about $1,000 a student per year transportation cost. It's like 33 million, 34 million in that budget. You haul about 32,000 kids. So, that's about a,000 bucks a kid.
025And if you do the depreciated cost on a 50-year basis, if I did that right the other night, it's about $1,000 a year per student per building. >> So, those are our capital outlay. Everything else is operational costs, teacher salaries, insurance, utilities, and all that. Am I'm kind of on I think I'm on base, right? Pretty close. >> Yeah, split hairs here in a minute. But so if we reach out there and start identifying with the data that he's providing us and locate these sites where we know and work with the commission, convince the commission, hey, we know it's coming. We we when when we built the courthouse, the projected numbers the state of Tennessee gave us was for a half a million people in this county. That was by 2040. We're at 380 according
026to Mayor Carr. I think we're at 380 right now. So, another 120,000 people in this county in the next 15 years. So, we know it's coming. So, why don't we plan for it instead of being reactive and and and so so what if we build a school or locate a school and build a core capacity for 600 kids for a middle school and then come back five years later and do the add-on. if he's getting the numbers right. And I'm really convinced Rob has done an excellent job. I am so impressed every time I sit through this that his model he's built gives us that insight that we don't have to play this reactive game. We lay it out and say, "Okay, here it is." I think one thing, Dr. Svin, I wish we would
027do. I think a lot of times in what I've noticed in the five-year plan, you know, school on the south end of the county or school on the west side of the county or something like that, I think we've got to get a little more specific, maybe community-based, you know, we need something in Walter Hill or we need something in uh last cases or Christian and and and that way the public knows it's coming and that commissioner and that district knows it's coming instead of just a general thing. I think it's it's kind of like turning the tide a little bit. If we can just kind of keep it moving, it may make our job and create less stress. I can remember 30 something years ago, a lady called me one night, >> and this
028was right after Seagull had opened up. She lived on the far end of Mona. She lived down on almost a Wilson County line. Caleb, I mean, that's a long way, right? She had one child at Wilson, one child at Oakland Middle, and one child at Seagull. She said, "Mr. of all to drive an hour and a half every morning, every afternoon. We should not do that to our parents. We should not do it to our students. We should not do it to the taxpayers or the county. It causes traffic, causes a lot of stress, caused a lot of upheaval. And I think it's caused a lot of stress with us here for the last two or three weeks. And God knows it's caused a lot of stress with Dr. Sullivan and his staff for the
029last four years. So anyway, that's just my two cents worth. I think we've got to utilize him >> every time on all of this. Thank you, >> Dr. Sullivan. >> I know it's been painful, but we have I think the board needs to graduate themselves. We've made a lot of progress. When Rob came with us our first year, we had so much red on those graphs. I mean, just about every one of our schools, elementary, middle, high school, was overcrowded. We're at the last step with the middle school to try to relieve. And I know concept 2 moves more kids than we would like, but it's necessary to to move students into where we have [clears throat] some spots. >> Rob, you want to go with your your projections? >> Yeah. And so we I
030have no official report now. There's applause in the background. >> Yeah. >> But I do want I'm open for like questions and then other things that you want to discuss, but I want to build on some of the things that we've talked about here in in a brief statement. So we've been reactive. What we're trying to move towards is being proactive and that comes with um building stronger relationships and partnerships between us and the county and I think some of that really even is more enhanced starting next week. So, we've built an agenda with some of our conversation with the county commissioners that will help bridge some of this information and how we can work together to make some better solutions for our students because I think what when we talk about some of this
031realignment, we don't have much choice in our realignment because we don't have space throughout our entire system. when we have space um as board member Sharp indicated um we then can have flexibility as an area grows we let it grow into what will fill that building we just don't have that luxury right now and in order to get to that place we need to be further in advance of when we need to open buildings and buy sites and so everything that um board member VA um was saying we we need to do and I think we're positioned where um if they work with us, we can achieve that. >> Um the only thing I want to go over in the presentation just all we did was highlight some changes to give you some better visualizations
032of what you may know because you've asked some questions about um how far students are, let's say a mile or a mile and a half or what developments are north or south of Rocky Forks. If we go to um I think page 12 in that presentation um I just want to just briefly go over this page and the following page. So we took a a tool called network analyst and said hey if we look at by the roads who is within one mile that's shaded yellow. So it's all the parcels that would be in the yellow and then if it's greater than one mile to one and a half miles it's shaded in that orange color. So, it gives you a visual of the parcels with their road segment, how that would um relate. Now,
033as we build more roads in these areas, it gets better. Right? Right now, we're pretty limited in some of our capacity to move around in this area. The dots represent where the 25 26u elementary students are located. So, this gives you a visual of of some of the the elements of our road network and where kids are. The next page um was some conversation about um specifically in Stewart's Creek where are those developments and how many um are in these areas that would be north of Rocky Fork and South Iraqi Fork. So the table that you see to the left in this legend um gives you that perspective that um north um we basically have of the current developments over 80% of those developments are north of Rocky Fork and Elmoville Road and in the
0345-year 30% um and this is just of those developments in in this area south of it current is a little under 20% but 70% as we get out towards 5 years. So this gives you again that perspective of how this factors into the number of students that we're indicating come in this area. And so however this um factors into your um influence of what we do with our elementary or middle school boundaries, um I think this piece of information starts to give you a sense how does this tie to the developments? How does this tie to the the new forecast that students um in these areas? Um so that's really newer information to to help you have some visuals. Um, some of the stuff that we'll talk about with the county is going to address
035population, county population to our student population, where we're seeing these two hot zones. So, down by Rockville, Stewart's Creek, really just trying to help them see that with the sophistication that we are using as a school district. Um, how that may play into uh getting some land, getting some things in our five-year plan, right? Getting another elementary building so um we can be more proactive in how we resolve our challenges. Miss Michael. >> Yes, Miss Rosales. >> Okay. I want to back up just a little bit. Back in November 2023, what you're talking about of the development right there, I actually took pictures of all the um subdivisions that were popping up. There were some areas that were just starting and I think I bought like 12 of them. 12 pictures of different subdivisions that
036were within that my radius and over close to Van Beern and and even where I live. Anyway, so the reason why I'm bringing up November 2023 is because in that meeting we voted for the concept maps of the middle school. Um I don't have my computer is not working but if I do remember correctly what the board voted at that time the projections of Blackman Middle School was still very very high during that first second third fourth year. I don't have it with me. And so when when we voted on those concept maps, the parents when they looked at the map and trying to figure out for two years if they were going to go somewhere or they were staying, they were going by the concept maps of what was voted in November 2023. And
037a lot of them, there was quite a few of them that thought they were going to be staying in a particular zone. But then now two years later we completely redid the whole entire map and the zones are very very different especially in black men zone area. So my question to you and maybe you can speak I know that the board voted on gave you specific guidance of what to create the boundary lines based on five things that we said were priority. um my computer's is not working for with me. And so out of that, that's where the projection came. So my question is, is it good practice for county that is growing? If we're going to vote on a projection, if we're going to vote on a concept map, should the board make a
038decision about boundary lines with concept maps that are not really finalized in the sense that we still had projections in some of those schools that were really, really high that will eventually will trigger a reason. Should we then, if we're going to vote on a constant map, vote on a map that's a lot more aligned with numbers that are more um realistic? They're they're they're going to serve the the the c they're going to serve that that population better. They're going to be under capacity because one of the things that we said as a party was building utilization. It wasn't keeping neighborhoods together. We had I think another one was to make keep the the elementary and the middle school as a feeder school to the high school. Um and then certain things like that.
039So my question is if the board is going to take action, should the board take action on projections that a lot more realistic versus projections that are still up high that's going to trigger every zone. Excellent question. Um, what it might be is that two years out if we use this timeline of November 2023 and what we all were thinking, what were the parameters of these guiding principles, boundary criteria, what we were thinking with enrollment projections. Here's what we intend the boundary to be. But then as you circle back, here we are the year before this opens. We use the latest data to fine-tune whether this really is playing out because I think when we go back and we do this every year when you look at some of these new developments, some built a
040little bit faster, some a little bit slower, some yield at different age group of kids. And so that would probably be good practice that we're letting everyone know that, hey, this new building's coming online. um this is what we intend the the boundary to be, but the year before it opens, we're going to have one final examination to make sure that we can fit with whatever those given conditions are. And I want to give you kind of one clarity to this. We're doing the same thing with Montgomery County. So, two years ago, we set their elementary boundaries and some things have changed with what they're doing with their programming and and how they're utilizing space. And so, much to your point, we're doing the same thing. We're now the year before the elementary opens, we're
041finalizing what that boundary is and having those conversations with the board and with the community. >> And I and I get that data moves and evolves. I understand that. I don't think that is the the argument here. I think the argument that I'm trying to um convey is that because we did vote in 2023, the parents mindset is completely different than my mindset as a board member in the mindset of where our central office is at because they're concerned about how do we get seats in our schools for kids not to be overcrowded. A parents mindset is hey where is my kid going to go to school? And if the dot is in this blue thing and that's the zone they're going to be in, then I'm like, "Awesome, my kid is there." But in
042essence, they may not be there. And so it's just created a lot of confusion for the parents because then they're coming to us. Hey, two years ago, this whole neighborhood was in the zone. Now we're taking back out of there. Why are we there when you when we've had two years saying that we're going to be here and now we're not going to be? So I think for me as a board, if I'm sitting in the seat and having to vote in something that's going to be anticipation two years ahead instead of closer to her, I don't think is in the best interest as a board to take action board action and say these are the f these are a these are preliminary zones that we're going to vote on if we're going to go
043back at them and re and completely blister these zones because the black men zone has been completely completely redone. It doesn't even look the same as it was when it was voted on 2023. So, I think to peace people's mind, we can have a concept out of u and publish and communicate, but saying these are subject to be changed. They're not final and the board is not taking action and they will take action, you know, 6 months before the school open. I think that's a reasonable request for the board to say, "Let's not take action today, but we're going to go ahead and put these maps up, these concept maps there, so parents can have a vague idea of what could potentially move or could potentially could not move. But don't make plans into thinking
044that this is where you're going to be." That's just my opinion. um just one board member saying this how it all checked out. >> I just don't think it's in the best interest of us as a board because as a parent I'm frustrated as a parent and not I'm not really moved and this isn't impact me as much but resoning has impacted me in the past multiple times. So that's my opinion. >> Understand Mr. Shel then Mr. Yeah, I mean I I think that's kind of what we're doing here is when we agreed upon the concepts in 2023, we agreed that we'd revisit them within 9 months for any changes. There's no way for you to accur like as you just mentioned, there's no way for you to accurately 100% guarantee us that the developments
045are going to happen on time, on schedule, and you know which family is going to move into these zones. I also understand the idea that uh certain areas that have been reszoned multiple times in multiple years is quite frustrating. Um I I was going to wait probably until Thursday to mention this, but uh actually two other uh board members have mentioned something similar, but we can't control the development and the growth that's going on. That's not something we have control over. You take a school like Rockville that's having a lot of development in close proximity to the school. What is that going to do in a year, two years? We can project as best as we can, but that's going to cause another reszone once if a lot of students come in that are going
046to help fill up those middle schools or elementary schools more than we would have projected, they're going to fill that up and then that zone is going to shrink toward the school. So, you know, obviously I don't think any of us have enjoyed the reasoning process. Um, and I think we do have a lot of hard decisions to make and I do think we should focus on building utilization. That's what we've asked you to do. That's what you've done. That's what we have before us. Also, I think it may be worthy to consider that we while we have had some help at the state level, um, we need more assistance on this growth. Everybody on this board will tell you from a education standpoint, growth is not paying for itself. It's not happening. It's not
047it's not covering the cost. It's not covering the infrastructure. It's not covering the per public services. It's not keeping up. I know that's great for some, but it's not great for education. So, here's a thought and it's it's it's it's something. Um we move forward with a concept concept twos uh maybe on these particular zones and then we we also seriously look at a motion that says and the board can discuss what this might look like or think about it and we can talk about it then but potentially shutting down enrollment at schools where some of these developments are happening right next to the school and that putting the onus back on those developers where they can't say, "Well, you're going to you're right here beside Rockville, so you're going to be just fine at
048Rockville." And the school board can worry about cutting out all the rule zones tighter and tighter and tighter and tighter each year. And we just said, "Hey, you know what? Once Rockville Middle hits 102% 103% capacity, no more enrollments going there. If you move next door to Rockville, we've had to do this at Stewart's Creek Elementary. If you move next door to Rockville, then guess what? your kids going to get bust to the next uh the school that's closest like we did with Browns Chapel uh and that has available seats and maybe that'll that'll bring the developers to the table here to have a conversation with us because we need we need some buy in uh and I know that sounds a little bit extreme and it could end up us closing enrollment at a
049lot of different schools and it's going to be a bigger headache for the school system and I understand that I've talked to Dr. solvent about this and so we can see what we can talk about uh here and what the board would like to do. But what is happening right now and I do understand Mrs. Rosales's concerns. Uh what is happening right now is there are sections that are going no matter what is decided tonight, they are going to be reszoned again because development is happening so tight to some of these schools. And so you there's gonna have to be a decision made. Now this board can get in front of that decision like Stan was mentioning projecting out. We can do the best we can and build. We're not going to be able to
050build fast enough to keep up with it unless we got some big donors out there. Um so I would just like the board to consider that. Consider what it might look like if we started shutting down enrollment at some of these places that are having development right next to these schools and those those kids being done like we did at Browns Chapel which look I am not in favor of that. I don't think this is best for the students. I don't think that it's I don't think it's fair but also think I don't also don't think it's fair that there are several areas that keep getting reasoned and again no matter what happens now we're going to do the best we can. I do think we need to make a decision on these concepts. But
051that in mind, we can also start to seriously talk about what this school board would like to do as far as when a school reaches capacity and the decisions that the school board has the ability to make to put the pressure back on those that are causing the growth. >> Miss Maxwell. Oh, >> go ahead. >> Yeah. Um, you know, all we have is the data that Rob has given us, which I mean it's Um, I'm like Mr. Bald. It's just phenomenal that we have this information. And again, we don't have a crystal ball. There's no way in this world for us to know what's going to happen in the future. And we received a lot of emails that these these parents say, "Well, when I bought this house, we were guaranteed that we were
052going to be able to go to school." If anybody ever tells you that, there are no guarantees because we don't know what's going to happen. All we have to do is to address what it is now and what it is tomorrow and what it is the next week and next year. And we've got to we can't just continue overloading schools. We've got to move kids to where we utilize the seats in these schools. And I wish we had, you know, like you say, uh, Caleb, that we wish we had plenty of money that we could just build schools. And I wish that we could build them on the front end instead of trying to catch up all the time. But I mean, the trouble is that uh, if you call it trouble, people have realized
053we've got the best school system in the state of Tennessee. People realize that Middle Tennessee is the best place to live in the state of Tennessee. And people in other parts of the country realizing, hey, Tennessee is pretty good place to live. Especially those folks out there from California coming in with all that money. But again, you know, uh we had no idea that this was going to happen. We don't know what's going to happen next year. you know, we hope we take this data and that's the way we have to make our decisions and we hope we get it right. And so we just really like to have your support and you know uh instead of criticism, you know, just uh to uh be with us and pray with us that we get things
054right cuz um we I wish we knew but we don't. This was then >> okay so um um looking at Mr. To Tidwell's point, if we were put a cap in the some of these moments, well, this is where the challenge is going to come to play. So, in 2027, in 2028, this the second year with the new school opening, if we were to potentially go with concept 2, well, the Blackman Middle is a will be 90 98%. So, in other words, it should be cap at this point because it's at 98%. Then it's you've got Christian middle, it's 101%. But realistically, it's not because of the growth that's happening. It's because we're shipping the kids that are in the growth zones that are moving into Christian Middle Similar to what happened with Black Men
055Seagull where we have kids that are in in a hot zone area that's growing. We're putting them in Seagull and that is reaching capacity, not because that area is growing. Then you've got Eagleville is at 80% but they only have about 100 seats left. Then you've got Leverne Middle at 88%. And then Oakland Middle is at 99%. Again, we will have to go ahead and move over the cap because it's at 99%. It's technically at capacity at that point. Same thing is because we're moving kids over to that area so that we can fill up these seats. Um, and then Popular Hill, the new school, second year, 91%. That is the second year. That's not the third, fourth, fifth. No, that is one year after open, 91%. You know what that means? We're going to
056have portables. That's what that means. And then, um, well, Rocky Springs Middle, guess what? 100% capacity. Definitely closing the doors at that point because they're capacity. Then you've got um Rockville Middle at 95%. You've got Rocky Fork Middle at 98%. You've got Sigle Middle at 91%. You've got Smyrna Middle at 91%. You've got Sew Creek Middle at 88%. So you got a little bit of room there. And then Wentworth became a middle at 98% the second year. Not because we've got a very an area that is growing. It's because we're taking the kids from the hot area to that area. So, where are the kids going to go if we were to cap them? They're going to be sitting in the air somewhere. We're technically going to have to bring portables. That's what this is
057going to tell us. The portables are not going to go away and we're going to have to bring them back. A brand new school that we're opening the second year and 91% is going to tell us we're going to need portables. this is what so we can do that but um we don't have we don't know where we're going to bring them we need to build another middle school that's what that also means >> so a couple things [laughter] um I'm loving all of the discussion by everybody and I think um this proves how important it is to hear from our community because I think um some of us have kind of been brought back to the reasons that we're here and that we're here to serve our students. And while that may make things
058difficult for central office, unfortunately, our county commission, our elected officials, at the end of the day, our job is to make decisions based on what's best for our students. To Miss Sharp's point earlier, if we are constantly moving children to fill up seats, which let's be honest, there are not a whole lot of seats really anywhere, but even if we're moving them just to fill up a few seats, I think some people have lost sight of the fact that it's you're talking about now taking somebody's commute from 10 minutes to now 30 or 35 minutes to get their kid to or from school or a twice as long bus ride. I mean, we have to look at the entire impact that these decisions have. I think which is why, you know, a lot of people
059like the idea of kind of looking at a school and going out this way because it it makes it a little more even across the board for who attends. Unfortunately, our area, it's not the easiest place to do it that way. Um, I would love for us to get away from a focus on utilizing seats and space until they're completely full to just turn around and move people again to utilize the school next door that now has a few extra seats. Our schools should have some space in them because we are growing. While some areas grow faster than others, the entire county is growing. So to fill up a school to over 90% capacity just to say we're utilizing seats, I don't think is probably going to be in the best interest of our students.
060Um Dr. Sullivan, I know you said you wanted to do the resoning before confirming the five-year plan. I'm also wondering though, should those things be being done almost in conjunction? Because for instance, I would love to see the next middle school be in plain view because I think it will relieve black men in Christiana. If I'm not wrong, it will probably help depending on what those zones would look like. If we did something like that, I think that should take have us take pause and look at resoning and go, well, if we put it in our five-year plan and we build this middle school in 5 years, do we really need to reszone this neighborhood because in five years they're going to be reszoned to the new school? Can we live with, you know, 70
061kids over capacity for a couple years? because I think the community would probably rather deal with that situation versus the yanking back and forth between zones. Um, something else that that we've talked about multiple times, too, is needing to make sure that we're communicating with our county commissioners what we need, not what we think will be approved. Um, and if my personal opinion is we should be buying a piece of land, building a school, and renovating a school every single year until we get caught up. I'm sure that that isn't going to get voted through and happen. But if we're being realistic about what our needs are, maybe that needs to be in there so that when we have some of our joint meetings, that's something that we can discuss and they can understand what
062this need looks like. Because again, if we start renovating a school every year, it's going to take us over 50 years to get back to that original school. I've said that multiple times. um building a school one a year at this point if all of our middle schools are almost at at or over capacity. We already are over capacity again at Stewarts Creek Elementary. Like we're we're doing a great job. RSP has helped us do a great job. I think we're doing the best we can with what we've been dealt. I just think that maybe some more discussion is needed on how we want to continue to move forward to help prevent some of the things that we've learned from thus far. >> You mind if I respond to that? Is that okay? Go ahead,
063please. >> So, I've so a couple and I agree wholeheartedly with those points. Um I think Tuesday's meeting with our county commission will be very telling. Um in this budget cycle, what I'm hearing a lot from our funding body is we have funded gratefully so very we have a great relationship with them is that they have funded $340 million of projects but that now it's time for the county to look at infrastructure for a jail and that's where the funding needs to go not to the school system and so I've been I've been told that point blank and so that is the battle we are up against even getting funding for the high school coming forward and so I think I have to I have to realize that conversation when I go in Tuesday that
064it is an election here. The reality of a tax increase, a tax increase is easier to argue for students than it is for inmates. I don't know another way to say that. Um, I don't like that politically, but that's that's an easy way to state that. Um, it's easier to blame a to blame a tax increase on a school system than it is anyone else because everyone has to be educated. And I don't like that, but we're going to be in a battle just to get funding for our high school. But the more we can get the commission involved with that, but we do have to realize how much they have. They have funded more the last three years than they've ever funded for us. Um, but the reality is they are out of debt
065capacity and unless they do a tax increase, they are not going to risk their AAA bond rating because that is a huge thing to have between two or three different rating agencies. I don't know if it's two or three at this point, but it's it's three. And so they've they've either got to do a a tax increase to fund both the high school and the jail. I know this is a weird thing to be talking about at a board meeting, but it's what's upcoming in the next six months of the requests or they'd have to risk that because they don't have the debt capacity. And so I'm trying to build support for the high school on Tuesday first. So >> I I just, you know, this is just my opinion. I think it's our responsibility.
066>> Point of order, Madam Chair. >> Yes. I'm sorry. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I'll be brief, Mr. Vaughn. Um, I'll go back to we we have a very good relationship with our county commissioners. We're we're doing very very well with our state representatives, but where we really need the help is at the city and the municipality level because they're the ones that approve these big neighborhoods. And if they would just do a moratorum for a couple of years, no no big building, I mean, they can still make the plans and everything for it. Or if they I was speaking with a developer in Williamson County the other day. He said, "I wish I could come over there and develop some." He said, "Because we give land when we develop." Imagine that.
067They give when when they buy the land, they give lands to the school system when they develop. Why are we not asking for this? Why are our cities not asking for this? That's the third leg to the stool. So, you know, not trying to throw any shade at anybody, but that's where all these big subdivisions, 600, 800 subdivisions are being approved at at the city and the municipal level. So, that's where we need we need the help if they would just slow the growth. I get it. They want the tax money, but essentially, they're getting tax money on the back of our kids, and they're the ones that either have to suffer through the overcrowding or suffer through the resoning. So, thank you. Yeah, >> Sar County is doing a pause so it can be
068done. Yes, Mr. Apology, Miss Sharp. You your jacket got in front of me. I couldn't couldn't see. Um, you know, my my uh it's just my opinion, but I think it's our responsibility to tell the county comm county commission this is what we need. this is what we got to have. Leave it up to them to make the decision. We don't need to make that decision. We need to tell them, look, we got to have this because it's not going to go away. And let them figure out a way to do that. And so, uh, I think, you know, just uh I think we need to approach it in a way. And so, I mean, >> I don't have to answer to go up there with them like you do, but >> I'll agree. I
069told him I was still coming with that request. When I was told we won't fund it, I was told I told him I'd still ask. >> Yes. >> So, yes. >> Yep. >> Mr. Tidwell. >> Yeah. I mean, the numbers are here. So, take them the numbers. I mean, we we have the numbers as far as uh what I mentioned earlier. >> Yeah. Uh you know, if you look at 2728, yeah, there's a lot of utilization. That's why I'm saying we should put like uh maybe 104% or 105% limitation. So, we do have some room. But if you go out to on this concept, let's go back concept one. You go out to concept one and you're looking at 20 30 31. You have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven of those middle
070schools are over capacity. You go back to concept 2 and this is 20 3031. You're going to have three schools at over capacity and we're hoping to have another middle school online by that point. Obviously, we would need one. Uh so I do think again shutting down the enrollment nearby is going to be beneficial and not doing anything is just going to make it drastically worse. Um so there's still some considerations to to put out there and to be thinking about but um you know again we are doing everything we can up here at this board. I do believe that we are unified on this front and that we are trying to do we're trying to catch up with the growth that we have. >> Hey, and we this board uh so at least that
071we have some new members here, but they were part of the some of the process as well. But since the last three years that I've been on this board, we put 2,000 come fall of 2026, we'll have 2,000 high school seats that we have added since then. We'll have,00 elementary seats, 1,200 middle school seats. We are we are doing everything that we can but our toolbox is not big enough for the job in front of us. And so we are going to either have to think outside the box, which is where I'm talking about shutting down this enrollment and put some pressure back on these developers because listen, a developer can sell a home by being like, you're going to be in this school zone. Guess what? You remove that and that becomes an issue.
072So, I'm still on board with that. I'm still on concept two on both of these. Um, of course, I I 100% agree. And we've talked about in our five-year plan planning back in the fall. We got to have middle school. We got to have a high school. And right after that gets gets done, we still need another school. Just like MVY said, we must be building each year. Every year. >> Yes. >> And so, that's, you know, it's unfortunate. I don't know what's going on with the county with with the other items that they have, but we're here to look after students. Real quick. >> Yes, Mr. S. Dr. S. >> And that does get us back to where we were 20 or two year 2000 to like 2008ish. We were opening a school every
073year. And that's kind of where we are as far as either addition or school. We at the high school approved hopefully this year. We need to then ask for the next school the next year. And so that's what our trajectory has been. We just need to continue that. Agreed. >> Agreed. And Rob, you have spoken to our county commissioner, right? >> No, it's Tuesday. >> Tuesday. So, you've not done that in the past. Okay. >> And it is budget and health and ed. So, I expect some interesting >> Oh, yeah. >> conversations. G >> can I give you one visual I think that will help you. If you go back to page nine, >> um where did this all begin? And so, you know, our conernnation through this whole page nine. Yeah. So if if
074we look at where we currently are with the boundaries, right? So this is why we're saying we need to make some changes. We still have the reality in 27 28 when you go down to that bottom row. Look, we're at 94% utilization. Best practice would be in some of these buildings where they're growing as we hit 85, 90, move to 95. We have a mechanism in place where that's why we're moving kids. But if you look at me, this bottle of water where basically I took two swings out of this, right? Well, not swigs, two drinks. Um, but you see there's a little bit of emptiness in here. This is how we have to move everything around and we don't have any space. And that's our challenge. We can't do the things that are best
075for kids because we don't have the space. And that's what we're trying to advocate. >> Mr. Males, >> this is a current this is based on the current zone, right? >> Correct. With what's proposed. >> Can we look at the one that we voted on November 2023? The projection for that? >> I mean, can I can bring it up. I was going to So, you guys were not off by very much in 2023. They can't pull it up right now. I just pulled it up online. Um, Blackman Middle was projected at 1731. Instead, they were at 1776. Rockville Middle was projected at 1683, they're at 1632. So, basically, it's 40 kids at Blackman instead of at Rockville. So, >> we were still high either way. >> We are, but the that time um you have
076to remember we have to go at the will of the majority of the board. And at that time, it was five to two. M. Rosales and Mr. Young voted no. But at that time it was the will of joy of the board to keep Blackman Middle at 12:30 but Rockville Middle at 1500. And so that's what and that I think Mr. Tidwell mentioned it. I was going back to the minutes to approve the middle school zoning boundaries is presented with a change to add it was mander in court to Steuart Street middle and said the new middle school evaluation of new enrollment trends and attendant zones to occur at least nine months before implementation. And that's what we're >> right. Well, that that confusion brought a lot of confusion when we said we were going
077to go back and look at them nine months prior. I just think moving forward because we are growing. The data is evolving. We're not sure. I don't think it's in a good habit of practice to vote on something two years in advance, especially when the numbers were high. That's just my two cents. >> Anything else? Any any questions or comments? >> Okay. Thank you, sir. You've done a wonderful job and >> Godspeed. Next week, >> we're meeting at 5:30 at the courthouse. Um, if anyone's available, Tuesday at the courthouse, 5:30, it is our traditional or traditional >> Thank you, Bob. >> Normal health and education meeting. And then budget is going to be there as well. We have a budget amendment hopefully that will pass on Thursday. It'll be part of our normal agendas which
078the normal health and education meeting. But then we will get into Rob's presentation. I expect lots of questions about the data especially from some members of um one of the committees or both of the committees rightfully so. But about are these needs actual? And I do think the the board will get to see where the building utilization question is coming from because that is truly coming from the commission of we expect you to use your seats before you ask for a school. >> So I think it'd be good for us to be there. >> Okay. Next we have uh proposed resolution to repeal PEK. >> This is a resolution that Mr. Tidwell has proposed. to the board. This is a resolution requesting the Tennessee General Assembly to repeal the Professional Educators Collaborative Conferencing Act, otherwise
079known as PEKA. So whereas in 2011, the Tennessee General Assembly enacted the Professional Educators Collaborative Conferencing Act, otherwise known as Pekka, found in Tennessee code annotated title 49, chapter 5, part six. And whereas PEKA replaced the former collective bargaining framework with a system of collaborative conferencing. And whereas while the intent of Pekka was to create a statutory process for communication between local boards of education and teachers on matters of employment and practice in practice, the law has resulted in significant administrative burdens and legal disputes. And whereas PEKA has created a framework that often fosters conflict rather than collaboration as it was intended to do. And whereas other local school districts across Tennessee have incurred legal expenses due to lawsuits that arise from the implementation and varying interpretations of PEKA. And whereas legal disputes involving PEKA
080demonstrate both the limited enforcability of the law and the reality that districts incur unnecessary litigation cost without producing meaningful gains for employees. And whereas failure to agree on terms leaves issues unresolved and contributes to frustration, mistrust, and potential litigation. And whereas even when agreements are reached through PEKA, the resulting memoranda of understanding are only binding if approved by the board of education demonstrating that the process offers limited practical benefit and has not produced meaningful gains for employees. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Ruer County Board of Education requests that the Tennessee General Assembly repeal the Professional Educators Collaborative Conferencing Act in its entirety. So that is the resolution that has been proposed the board take up. >> Any con questions cons comments? Okay. Thank you sir. >> You want to go with the next
081one too? >> That's you too. >> So uh the next thing deals with a transition academy. a real estate a piece of real estate's come available that may be suitable for a transition academy in the north part of the county. So this item is the school system has been looking to potentially add a transition academy on the north end of the county. A house and parcel which appears suitable for the transition academy has come on the market at 300 Maple Street in Smyrna and a contract's been negotiated for the purchase of the property. The negotiated purchase price is 750,000. The contract has a 60-day inspection period and is contingent on approval of funding by the county commission. The contract terminates unless the board gives seller written notice it is electing to proceed with the purchase
082of the property. The house would need to be inspected during the inspection period to confirm its suitab suitability for the proposed use. Uh the motion is to approve the execution of the contract for the possible purchase of the property at 300 Maple Street in Smyrna, Tennessee. >> Uh Mr. agreed. Would it be okay if we uh let Miss Rston Annie come up and speak to just um how many kids this would service and what exactly explain to those new members on the board and probably some of us that are listening online what transition academy is. >> Sure. Thank you. >> I love talking about the transition academy. Um the transition academy serves students who are 18 to 22. Um, we have one located right now right um next to MTSU. We actually rent it through
083MTSU and the Wesley Foundation. Um, and it serves 12 students, has one teacher and three um, educational assistants. They go out into the community. They work on grocery shopping, meal prepping, really those transition skills in order to work and live in our community as active community members. Um, the house in Smyrna would have a another program. Um, I think that's what you guys are talking about. I'm not going to put words in your mouth. Uh, but adding a program, which I would like a lot. Um, and then we would serve more students in that um, in that home as well. It is a larger home than the one that we're actually renting right now at MTSU, so we could potentially have more students um, in that program. Uh right now we have um so our
084transition academy our transition services again ages 18 to 22 we have transition academy and project search for both of those programs um the students must complete one successful year of work-based learning. Um so right now we have 91 students who are eligible um to apply and interview for those positions. Um we have 54 referrals right now for both of those programs for the 2627 school year. Um and then that is for project search and transa transition academy. So right now so we have we have a lot of kids who are interested and we have two fantastic programs that not all the counties in our state have. >> Can I ask you real quick because um you went out and looked at the property as well. >> I did. Did you find the building suitable and
085in really good shape and what were the positives that this building had as well? >> Well, I was also a history teacher and it is absolutely gorgeous. The hardwood floors and the woodwork just speaking from that were like just drop deadad gorgeous. But then second, um it is a large space. The rooms are very large. Um they are very applicable to a large group of students or adults. It has office spaces on the second floor. Um there are a couple of things and I'm glad Mr. Lee is here. He also went out and explored the property as well. There are a couple of things that would need to be done. Um the owner did take loving care of this property. Um so it is held up very very well and the large kitchen space in
086the back that was added on for a type of catering or culinary um classroom um is very suitable to having a large group of students in there working on meal prep and things like that as well. Um did you want Mr. to speak about >> could you add anything to that >> and what what what specifics would be I think there's a ramp that needs to be installed >> there would be some minor things that would need to take place but it's there's based on my inspection and I didn't put on my coveralls and crawl up under the house but I did look through it fairly um closely it's in good shape >> and it has >> got it's got a large yard it has good parking >> it has Good street access. It's in
087a It's in a good location neighborhoodwise. >> An outside space for possibly for a garden as well. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Any questions, >> Mr. Maxwell? >> Yes, Mr. >> I have a couple questions. Thank you for uh bringing this before us. So, I really appreciate that. Love what the transition academy is. Love to see it expand. It's awesome. Uh my questions though are primarily uh about the property. I don't know if it'd be better for for Jeff or not. I'm not sure. Jeff, you can pop up if you need to. Um, but have we got [clears throat] are we going to get an appraisal? Is that part of the second step of us approving to move forward? Um, has already been >> We we can obtain if the board wants appraisal
088to be obtained, we can obtain an appraisal. >> Okay. And what are we currently paying? We're renting from MTSU, right, for the transition academy. >> It's 1,500 a month, I think. >> I believe it went up. So Brian's g have to pull that during we when you have it during general discussion. >> Okay. All right. Yeah. I was just curious what that is. I mean again would love to see the program continue to move forward. Um, and I'm just wondering, you know, if we rented it, how long it's going to take us, if we just rented the the building from, of course, they're probably just wanting to sell this particular building, but I'm saying if we rented a similar size building as to what this is, what that would cost us in rental a month,
089and how long it would take us to make back that $750,000 and whether that makes more sense because what if the program expands again and we want to get into a larger building. Um, I don't know. That's so that's why that's the line of questioning that I had. So I'd love to get the facts of what we're currently renting out. >> Can I ask real quick? >> Yes. >> Part of I know that when we talked to the commission for a funding aspect, sorry, for a funding aspect, we would probably look to take it from fund balance to fund the building whether that comes from we should get outcome funding and hopefully bonus funding um based on performance that'll be released next week. I can't discuss yet, but um that funding should be available. I'd
090rather take it from fund balance. I know when I talked to the commission previously or our finance director about leasing, he prefers for for us to purchase um because it affects bond rating. So, >> it's interesting. >> I don't know why. That's just he rather purchase things. >> And I don't believe the the owner was interested in in in renting it or >> No, the propertyy's on the market for sale, so they're wanting to sell the house. >> Yes, Miss Sure. Mr. Darby, >> Mr. Lee, I know we had talked about the potential of using I can't remember which SMr school it is that we had extra land at for transition academy. I think we talked about it last year or the year before. Can you speak a little bit to I guess I don't
091know costwise if it would be beneficial to use land we already have or if the house that's already built is a better deal. I would think we could on land that we already purchased, we could potentially build something maybe larger, you know, for maybe the same price, but I haven't done a cost analysis between the two. But I would think that we could build something on one of those pieces of property, and I hate to use that, instead of working with something that's we could make it our own. Mhm. >> The the and but we did look at Smyrna and we also looked at a piece of property at Witworth Buchanan. We looked at two different locations. >> Would it be possible for you to put some numbers together before Thursday or is that too
092fast? >> Yes, ma'am. I can do that. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Miss Max. >> Yes, Mr. Tid. >> Uh M. Rston. Uh, of those two, if we were to look at this as another option and maybe we're doing a custom, as M. Darby suggested, a custom build out for the specific needs um of those two particular land options, which would be better, Smyrna, >> or Witworth. Is there I'm sorry I'm putting you on the spot here. You might need to think about it, but I'm just curious. >> Well, I mean, Smyrna, both are located in Smyrna. um the land that he's talking about as far as Smyrna Middle School or are you talking about >> Worthworth versus Smyrna? Yeah, >> I mean they're both they would be very equal to me because there's not
093um in Murphy'sboro in the center of Murph where we have the Wesley Foundation. Um we do have transportation. There is the the Rover or whatever it's called now. Um we don't have that in Smyrna, nor would we have that at Witworth. Um we provide vans um for our students to get around in. And so that would be it would be equitable both ways. >> Okay. >> Uh to answer your earlier question, our current lease for the Wesley Foundation is $2,100 a month. >> 21. Okay, sir. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Anything else? >> Yes, Mr. Block. and and sorry being a new member I'm not totally up to par with this but this is a group of individuals that have aged out but they can continue we can continue educating them and help
094the transition to adult life smooth out. That's the idea here, right? >> Yes, sir. >> All right. And ideally, you're serving 12 students now at the Wesley House. >> Yes, sir. >> How many students could you service at at this location? It's a larger house, so I would say anywhere between 12 to 20. >> I was looking at the square footage of it on the on the tax card. So, but how many people have you had apply to >> Right. Um, for next year, for next school year, we have 54 referrals right now. They're doing the application and interview process in January for next school year. >> So, so this building would only service maybe a third of that population. >> Yes, sir. Now that those 54 referrals um are also for project search, which
095is our um group that's located at the embassy suites that it's very work-based learning. It's right before they get a job, >> right? How many how many are in that? I'm trying to get is this building if if we look I'm trying to get out of you long-term wise. How does this fit into the program? Are is this a band-aid approach? is are, as Miss Darby said, are we better off looking at building a building for you guys that we can grow into that can be utilized better? Is this the only building that has been looked at, only location looked at? Those are questions I've got. You know, when we decided to buy the McFaden property, we knew we had to buy the McFaten property. There wasn't another location. But if we're out here shopping
096and looking for different >> properties, I'm just trying to, you know, is this the ideal piece of property? Is this the ideal building or are we better off engaging uh Mr. Lee and his staff, you know, to build you a building that we don't have to modify th that that's what I'm trying to get >> absolutely >> to the bottom of. >> I really appreciate you guys even taking the time to talk about it and talk about expanding our program. I am open to whatever you guys decide as far as either this building which is a very unique property um as it was once a school I believe um a private school. So it does have some unique pieces to it or Mr. Lee also builds beautiful buildings as well and I would be happy
097um with either or. I'm just very excited that you guys have this on the table to discuss and talk about expanding our program. Um, and I can make whichever you feel like work. >> Yes, Miss Rosales. >> Thank you. [clears throat] Um, I've been to transition academy graduation like twice >> and it's amazing. >> Tour the current facility that we're using for transition academy at MTSU. And one thing that the instructors have said to us into Miss into the chair and Mrs. Claire is their vision and mission of wanting to grow the program and add more ch more kids into this because of seeing the results of it, the fruits of that's come out of kids that are going through the program and the need. There's a need. Um, I will be curious to see
098if we have land available and if we are able to I mean I'm for whatever to be honest with you. 750,000 buy this house is great. Awesome. But if we can use that same money with land that we already have and it's we're not that's just sitting there and we can put a transcision academy and it can grow. We can have it add more kids to the program. >> Instead of doing 12, we can do 20, 25. I don't know. I'd be curious to see what that would look like. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> I believe the board, it's been probably two years, actually made a motion and approved using the land at Smyrna Middle in Witworth for the the property, but I'd have to go back >> for the transition academy. >> And what
099happened after that? After we voted on, >> we said that we would have to wait on funding. >> Yeah. So this is >> But if we're going to pay seven if we're looking at $750,000 to buy this house. >> So you can do either or. >> Then why can't we use that money in something that we've already approved? >> If we already approved that motion, why we're not looking into that. If we found money for $750,000 to buy this. I'm for what I'm not trying to knock either side. I just want this program to move forward in in whatever way. So, if we're willing to pay $750,000 for this and we put an emotion for something, why are we not looking into what we can do with that $750,000 for the property that we already
100have? And and it can be bigger. >> Yeah. I don't care either. Yep. >> If it can be bigger, >> don't go either way. >> What are >> exactly? >> Yeah. M Miss Mr. Darby, >> Miss Maxwell, when we talked about this, I think when we voted on the two properties, we really liked the idea partially because it it got one on both ends. >> Got one on the north end and one on the south. >> So, just just for clarity sake, as we discuss this property, >> if this property were to come to fruition, is the intention to continue the Wesley Foundation house and this property? >> Okay. >> Yeah, we Yeah, this was this was not an eitheror. It was supposed to be, like I said, a north end and a south end.
101>> And and I'll just be honest with you, I don't know that we can build a property for 750,000 or less. >> No, I don't believe so. It's going to cost us way more. And >> money has been an issue. It's been the prevailing issue of why we haven't done anything up until now. We wanted to do something a couple of years ago and we continued. We've 12 spots. I'm sorry. It just breaks my heart. Every year some kid is going to stop going to our schools who could continue because he didn't get into Project Search or he didn't get into Transition Academy. That's how passionate the some of these kids are because they are ready to go. My own nephew never came back because he didn't get in because he wasn't chosen. And if
102we'd had more spots, he would have been. >> Oh, I don't think so. And so that's what breaks my heart cuz you know I I'm all for buying and building but I just don't know that we can get the money for this. >> Well, he's going to Mr. Lee is going to get us numbers. >> 750,000 sounds a whole lot better than 2 million or 3 million and having to do design fees and all of that. So, but miss I agree with you. The only reason why I said what I said about the property with because I thought I heard Mr. Lee say that we could take 750,000 and build something even bigger. I thought I heard that. If I misheard that, then I apologize. >> Oh, maybe I'm wrong. >> Did you, Mr. Lee?
103Can we build something bigger? Lee get his numbers together for Thursday to answer that question. >> But I thought he said even bigger. If we could even do roll the roll the table. >> That's what started the whole thing. But whatever we can do, we can build whatever. Okay. For whatever. >> Miss Sharp, did you have something to say? >> Yes. Thank you. [laughter] Um I'm familiar with this building. I'm a I'm familiar with the owners. And this building is 4600 square f feet and it has been a school before. So it's already ADA compliant. The doorways are open. This would allow us if we the board is the board's will to purchase this building to start something probably early next year. >> Mhm. >> And not have to build. I don't know. I mean,
1044,600 square feet is great. It's got this u it's two stories. It doesn't look like it's that large from outside, but there is considerable office space. There are two kitchens in there, and then there's a room in the back that they can make candles or wreaths or anything to um sell, you know, and turn that into workbased. Um and it it's a it's in the nice neighborhood. For reference, yes, it's very safe. It's a dead-end street. And like I said, it was Lancaster Christian Academy before. if anybody knows where that is or if you know where the pinnacle is on Lowry Street at the almost at the roundabout there. It's directly behind those brand new um apartments that they they went in and the family really wants something like this in in that building. Um
105and I think with it being a turnkey, Mr. Lee said, there were very few things that we would have to do to actually occupy the building if that would be the the board's will. So, thank you. Thank you, Miss Rston. I appreciate it. >> Absolutely. >> Put hot dogs in there. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next, we have safety and we have the mapping project. >> Yep. So, this is a mapping project to meet the state law requirement TCA4968054. Uh quote is $212,290 being paid out of the school safety grant. And this is by collaborative response graphics. We will have an executive session right afterwards to discuss this in case the board has any questions since it is around um safety and mapping. >> Might safety. Um Mr. Lee and Patty, is there
106any way that we can put something in the contract that if this is not compatible with our systems that it voids the contract? Because all these people when we buy all this stuff and we're happy to buy it, but you know about the radios, they're not compatible. you know, we find out down the road that they're not comp you remember the radios, they're not compatible with other things. This says in here that it's compatible with some of the other systems. So, I want to make sure that that happens before >> Yeah. >> even if it's in the contract. >> Yep. We can look at that. I get to for Thursday. >> Next, we go to instruction. >> This is Orton Gillingham training for title one school. So, this is I guess phase two for the
107spring. And so this is January and February 2026 paid for out of title one funds for Orton Gillingham. And we do this multiple times a year with our ESL teachers, special education teachers, and academic interventionists. But it's out of title one federal funds. >> Next >> we have Nova Smart Academy K8. So in accordance with board policy 1.902, an agreement has been drafted between Rutherford County Schools and Nova Smart Academy K8. Purpose of this agreement is to articulate the rights and responsibilities of each party regarding school autonomy, funding, administration, and oversight outcomes and more. Agreement will be effective for 10 years unless it's otherwise amended or vote for board policy. Exhibits of this agreement include the RCS performance framework, a pre-opening checklist detailing the school's responsibility prior to the first year serving students and a
108list of approved waiverss from the Tennessee Department of Education. Charter application was previously approved by the school board can be viewed in its entirety on our website. Have they found a potential site? >> Do you know if they found a site yet? Okay. >> Is that in Smyrna? >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. Next, we go to legal. >> This is policy adoption, second reading of two readings. And so, these would go into effect on hopeful passage on Thursday. Policy 1.703, school attendance zones and exemptions. Policy 1 or 3.206, community use of school facilities. Policy 4.601, reporting student progress. Policy 4.605, graduation requirements. Policy 6.204, attendance and non-resident students. Policy 6.701, student solicitations and fundraising activities. >> Any comments or questions regarding that? Okay. Next, we go to financial matters. >> Yeah,
109the next one's a little strange, so I'll explain it after I read it. This amendment is to increase general purpose fund 141 budgeted expenditures and decrease fund balance in the amount of $175,854 to account for the fiscal year 2425 charter schools final trueup. This was not a budgeted amount in the fiscal year 2425 budget due to not being able to determine the increase in ADMs and actual revenue and expenditures for that fiscal year. This will be potentially a reoccurring budget amendment every fiscal year because it's extremely difficult to be able to determine actual numbers for every charter school in developing the budget. It's required to be amended from fund balance because this is payment to charter schools from the previous year's students revenues and expenditures. So let me explain that in English. We get a
110true up in October. The final true up um we have to work with the comprollers's office because it is prior year students with prior year's money. So we have to go into fund balance because it's prior money. The uh whether it is an LEI LEA authorized charter school or charter commission authorized charter school um students generate per pupil expenditure. We know what that amount is what is budgeted and so we know what that average per pupil expenditure let's say it's $10,700. That's what the county commission says they're going to give us in revenue. We know the last couple years our revenue has come in above that. So we've put 10 12 $15 million in fund balance. That increases our per people expenditure to about let's just say $10,900. That extra $200 per student is then
111owed to the charter school for the number of students that they have served. It's impossible for us to know that until the books are closed. And so I Brian and I have talked about we've talked about it with Michael, we've talked about it with the controllers's office. We have no way of having any idea what that final number is going to be from a funding aspect. So we'll just come every year to that true up to go into fund balance because it's a previous year's amount. >> So >> Miss Maximum. >> Yes, Mr. >> So basically this is just I mean it's something that's going to happen year after year as long as it's set up this way. Uh we're just going to be able to give them what's theirs but at the same time
112it's happening a little bit later in the year than what >> Yeah. They'll get the what is ever budgeted um the normal but whatever e I hate to say extra money sounds bad right whatever additional revenue that is not budgeted whether investment income sales tax property tax comes in additional that goes into fund balance the um students served at the charter school >> generated those funds as well so they get the additional two 300 $40 whatever it happens to be per student but because our budgets and our audit doesn't close till October or November that's when those numbers are known So we don't really have those numbers until >> Yes, we you get to true up on October 31st I believe is when we got when we got it this year. >> Yes, 31st. >>
113And it can go both ways. It can be either we have to we have to owe that money or else, you know, they could be less ADMs and less expenditures. So it could be less. So I mean it it could go one way or the other. We may not have to come with a budget amendment next year if the numbers aren't aren't as great. So >> just depends. So I hope they're not as great. That means revenue didn't come in as high. So >> okay, >> this these next two are the other two items that would be on health and ed and the budget for them to consider. Next week, health and ed for sure will consider these two items. Budget does not have to vote on these. I I there's not a preference if
114they do because they're both be will be in session, but budget meets again on January 8th. And so if budget doesn't vote on next Tuesday, they will vote on January 8th because their commission meetings January 15th. So it doesn't matter either way if they consider these items. >> So this one is fund 141 budget amendment. We put them together not knowing what the board would do on with the other property. This amendment is to increase general purpose fund 141 budget expenditures and decrease fund balance the amount 75,000 to fund the deposits of earnest money and appraisal of five McFaten properties and the 300 Maple Street Smyrna property. This amendment will transfer money by decreasing unassigned fund balance and increasing board of education account 72310715 land in the amount of 75,000. >> Okay, any questions regarding
115that? Okay. Next 13. >> Transportation contract termination bus 220 and 130. Pursuant to section 8.1 of the Rutherford County Board of Education bus contract, transportation department received an email notification on December 3rd, 2025 from Brenda Stem, the daughter of James Stem for bus routes 220 and 130 requesting voluntary termination of the contracts with the board. Based on previous board approval, there would be a return of insurance stipen funding for in for insurance to RCS for both routes. board attorney will request to notify the estate of this requirement. >> Mr. Lee, will we be able to handle some of these routes that have been turned in? We've already got we'll be able to cover >> They will go in our normal order once y'all voted to terminate, then they will be made available to contractors. >>
116And you don't have think there's going to be any problems. >> I would never use the term don't have any problems. Um [laughter] we we have um we have uh opportunities every day. Um but um >> they will be offered. I think they there's some contractors out there that would like to have these routes. >> I only ask because this is we've had several of these this in the last couple months >> and we're just now getting started uh with our new um route um awarding process per the new policy. Um, so we've gotten through one. We've got a couple more to go out. So we're we're we're just now starting to work through those. >> Okay. >> But this Mr. Stem passed away. And that's the reason I put the caveat in there that
117Mr. Reid would have to work with the estate to get the stipen money returned because he did pass away. And >> okay, >> I don't know how that's going to work out. So that's why I put that comment in there. We may or may not get those funds back. Okay, >> Miss Maxwell. >> Yes, Mr. >> Mr. Lee, how many open routes do we have currently? Any idea? >> Four that I'm aware of. This would make six. We've actually had a pretty good run. No kidding. >> Most of the ones that we've had come back have been taken. In fact, the reason we're sitting on four is three of them have been waiting for the new process to get started. >> We've been covering them >> till we could get everything worked through. >> Great.
118That's >> on your on your table tonight. And I'm sorry since we're talking about routes that is m Mr. Johnson and his staff we we've taken our new policy because some of our contractors were having difficulty on how it worked because it's completely different. So we took that policy that was drafted in this room and put it in a matrix that we hope hope they can follow. Hope this is helpful to you guys so that you can also follow it as well. I >> think it's a great >> Dr. Svin. >> Yes. >> Okay. Are we going to go over this? >> Can we can you do you mind covering it right now? I appreciate this a lot. I've had some questions about it. >> Um I don't know if we can put it up
119or not, but I'd just like for it to >> I wasn't planning on I was just handing it out to you to let you know that we'd send it to contractors, but I'll be glad to talk about >> Is Thursday. Okay, >> that's fine. We'll do it by Thursday. >> I just like for it to be on record so I can reflect back, show people to come back and look at. I know you're sending it out to them as well, but just a lot of questions on this recently. So this is straightforward now. >> It's very straightforward and I think they were >> it's it's not the way we've always done it. >> Sure. >> So So anytime it's not the way we've always done it. It's difficult. But yes, I'll be glad to talk.
120I'll bring I'll bring the policy 3.4 that's on our website as well and we'll read it and go through this at the same time. >> I would appreciate that. Thanks. >> Okay. Not a problem. >> And you guys are going to start seeing I've asked Mr. Rey and I talked about and I talked to Mr. Johnson today. you guys are going to start seeing a lot of Mr. Johnson. He's been with us for couple months now. Um, and he probably feels like 10 years, but we're going to start letting him [laughter] kind of lead the department. I mean, he has been leading, but really kind of start seeing his uh stamp on it. >> Great. So, >> I do want to say it hasn't been smooth sailing doing it the way we've always done it
121either. So, anything's better. Yes, Mr. Ba. Also too, can you give us an update Thursday maybe as far as the we last month we had voted to uh uh not pay the contractors that had not turned their routes in uh the descriptions in Could we get an update? Maybe >> I can do that right now as well. >> Okay. >> Down to one contractor who has 18 routes. >> Here's the here's the conundrum and I'm just throwing it because we won't I'm not looking for a vote. This is for your information because this is the way the dominoes fall. Tomorrow is the 10th and that is when we the transportation department has to give the county the route information for them to cut checks for the month of January. That check covers January through the
12210th of January. >> December through the 10th of January. They will get checks probably around the 19th or the week right before Christmas is when they will pick up their checks. The instruction of the board was that we withhold the funding until we get it. This particular contractor with 18 routes would mean they won't get a check for any of those routes. >> So be it. I and I'm fine where we sit. If they were to come after the 10th and say, "Here's your route descriptions," it's going to be difficult for the county to undo their check process. So, it's a very real possibility that they don't get caught up because we do give them their funds. It's just delayed when they receive it till the end of January. So that it could be 60
123days. I just don't want y'all to get a phone call saying, "Hey, I turned it in on the 12th and I'd like to get my checks because the courthouse is probably going to tell us we're not going to do a special check run." >> So just want to make sure everybody understands that. >> Mr. Johnson, >> yes, please. Please mic. >> You want to come to the mic here? Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. >> [laughter] >> I just want to say that that was a big problem and my concern about that whole issue was I did not want the drivers not to be paid. So what I did was I picked up the phone, I called these two uh contractors, told them what was needed. One guy brought his in the same day. This other gentleman,
124I told him that if he wants to get paid, he need to have his in by no later than Thursday of this week. He promised he would get them in. So tomorrow I will follow up so that we don't we don't have this problem >> trying to stop it before it becomes a real issue. >> No, thank thank you for doing that because I knew last month when we took action that there was three or four or five or something. I forgot. There was it was it was actually two. I guess I was confusing contractors with the number of routes that we didn't have the descriptions on. So there were several routes but just two contractors. >> So One, one down, one to go. All right. Well, good deal. So, but everybody's on notice, so
125>> that is encouraging. >> Board action helped, I suppose. Anyway, thank y'all. >> One quick thing while we're still talking about buses. In the past, it's never it was not in policy and it was not in the contract, but it was practice. If a contractor surrendered a route, let's say they had multiple routes and they surrendered a route during this school year, they were not eligible to apply for another one. Another it was the mechanism and the reason it was utilized that way. If you had a cherry of a route that you wanted and it came up, you would come turn one in so that you could get the other one. It's it's stopped that turn one in just to get another one. so that we were just repetitively doing it. That's not in policy
126anywhere and it's not in the contract. I think we would like to continue that practice and maybe we need to put it in policy at a later date. I would like for you all's opinion before we continue with that institution because if we begin to allow it, it's going to let they're going to be able to turn routes in to get other routes. I'm hoping that with the picker wheel, it will cut some of that down because they're not going to know that they're going to have opportunity to get that route like they did in the past. So, I think there's a little more likelihood that maybe we don't run into that situation like we had in the past. But anyway, if you think about that, if you got a question about it, give me
127a call tomorrow. Maybe we can get some direction on Thursday. >> Basically, a way to try to to game the system to get more preferable routes for your area. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Yes, Mr. Ba. >> Well, I'd follow that up with this. I once Mr. Johnson's got his running gear up under him. I think probably after the first of the year this spring, early late winter, early spring, maybe we need to look at updating policies and we could bring that to the policy committee at when when we How often do we meet? Four times a year. >> Yes, four times a year. And our next one is scheduled for February 8th. So possibly we can talk about it in January then and if there's any recommendations that y'all would like to make that we
128could bring it up at the February meeting. >> Be glad to let's shoot for that then >> Mel. Thank you. >> Yes, Mr. Tidwell. >> Still bus related but not necessarily on that same exact topic. Uh, are the awarded routes public information so you know that which contractor is driving it each route? I know that you guys have that information, but is that public information? I've had some contractors ask me that. Of course, there's always accusations uh previously before Mr. Johnson got on here um of you know their gaming system or so and so's tricking the route. So, is is that public information that they have access to to know who's driving which route? >> It's not published anywhere. If they were to call in and if someone was to call in and ask who
129has the contract for bus and I'm going to pick a number 200, we can give them that information. But is it published anywhere? No, it is not required to be. >> Okay. Just curious, >> Dr. Sullivan. >> And I probably wouldn't from a safety standpoint recommend it. I don't necessarily know if I want people's names and their bus numbers out so that people could track buses and all. >> It's a strange world we live in. >> I understand from the contractor standpoint >> and that's Yeah, that's an that's an interesting concept, but it is all public record anyways. >> Correct. Yes, anybody could ask. >> So, it's just we're making it a little bit less difficult to get that information, but I don't know. I I don't have an opinion on that. That was a
130question that was asked to me. So, I'm curious. >> Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. All right, next we have central magnet bench request. So this is a request to install a bench in central magnet um supporting world languages and it's being donated by MTSU school concrete and construction at no cost to the board. >> Where are they going to put this bench? Out front or >> they've got a couple and then there's a location on the packet that's part of it. >> Okay. Okay. Next >> yet another Gaga ball pit. And so it's been a couple months. So this one's at Rocky Fork Elementary School at a cost of $9,513.75 at no cost to the board being used by schoolwide fundraising funds. >> Okay. Next we have director's update. >> I'll have Thursday. >>
131That'll be Thursday. >> Don't believe we got anything right now. >> Just to clarify, so Mr. Rosal, you talked about seventh graders. You meant rising eighth graders, current seventh graders. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yep. I assume that's what you meant. >> Sorry about that. >> Yeah. Rising eighth grade. >> I meant >> the current >> rising eighth graders who are seventh grade current seventh graders today. >> Perfect. >> Yep. >> Next we have general discussion. Does anybody have anything they want to bring? Yes, Miss Sharp. >> I've got some good news. I have two sponsors for our health our nurses, one in the House and one in the Senate. So, I'm waiting for um I'm going to follow up with Chairman White because I've not heard back from her, but we do have two of
132our Rutherford County representatives that have already said that they would sign on to this. >> Great job on that. >> The nurse the nurses um funding. That's wonderful. >> So, and also Jazzfest, we're having a meeting tomorrow for some Jazzfest. So, we'll have some updates probably Thursday. >> Okay. >> What were the dates for Jazzfest again? >> First and second. First, first and second. >> First and second, >> Miss Maxwell. >> Yes, Mr. Zalis. >> Okay. My apologies for this. So, I just want to go back a little bit to the discussion about reszoning the elementary school because we did get an email about the prek programs um at Walter Hill and Dr. Salva, can you speak into that about the pre-k programs and just to know I sub today at a prek class today.
133I absolutely love prek. I want to be prek teacher. >> Yes. [laughter] So, let me hit a couple things on prek. So, one, um, I apologize for any miscommunication as far as timelines. So, we have two preK programs. We have integrated preK, which is typical and students with um, have typical students and students with disability have been identified. And then we have voluntary prek. And so, our IPK, our integrated [clears throat] model is one that is required fed federally. Our voluntary prek is one that is funded largely from um state department but we we try to operate a lot of them in conjunction. So we talked about earlier the placement of those programs have not been at the board's um discretion. They can if they want to be. We've historically placed them where we had
134open space. BPK likes to be across the county but also in high income high needs areas. And so I know we're trying to go back to the north end a little bit trying to find space there and that's where we're looking to be. But I did want to address one of our common questions has been about IPK or integrated prek. We've had to make a change based on guidance from the state department. So our IP program traditionally has had typical um is what we've called students who were peer models to be with our students with disabilities. And so I'm just going to read and I'll send this to the board and we're going to send it as a parent update as well. So they have three questions that cover it. Why are general education students
135not permitted to enroll in the comprehensive preschool program? And so that's the question. The answer comprehensive preschool is specifically designed for children who require access to modified content as outlined in their individualized education program IEP. Because general education students do not require modified content, they should not be enrolled in a comprehensive preschool program. They go a little bit further and discuss kind of how us and some other districts have been operating. Prior to the 2526 school year, LEAs, school districts may have enrolled children without disabilities in comprehensive preschool programs, exactly what we did in IPK. Are eleas required to notify families retroactively that their child was enrolled in a special education course with modified content? No. Eleas are not required to notify families retroactively of their child's enrollment in the comprehensive preschool program. However, moving
136forward, LEAs must ensure that the comprehensive preschool program is used exclusively for children with disabilities or for those in the eligibility determination process who require access to modified content. So only students with disabilities or students who are in the process of being identified as being served with disabilities. And so that is a change for us. That is not how we've operated. Um so just to dispel the numbers that's nothing anybody no board member nobody at the district level that is strictly um from the state level. They go on and say if an LEA is found to be non-compliant for enrolling children without disabilities in the 2627 school year, what corrective actions will be required? If an LEA is found to enroll children without disabilities in a comprehensive preschool classroom, the LEA must take immediate action.
137The LEA will be required to immediately notify families of children without disabilities, and notify them that their child is not eligible to attend any longer, provide written notification to all affected families, unenroll that child immediately, submit evidence to the department that that child has been unenrolled, and so it is no longer an option for us to um enroll students in that program. So, >> so we don't we can't do the peer model. >> Peer model. Yes. And that is um strict. We've had a couple that is a state department guidance. I don't know that there's been a a change anywhere other than it is new updated state department guidance and we are not the only district impacted but that is um to give Dr. Ross and her team we've all tried but it is there's
138no wiggle room. >> And then I think you guys are here based on what's happening in Walter Hill. Correct. Can you since we didn't really talk about it, can we please just talk about what's happening over the Walter Hill >> zoning and then just the recommendation? >> Yeah. So, I recommended so we talked about Walter Hill and Wilson a little bit. >> There were some neighborhoods originally that were moved back in 20 I don't remember 2018 2019 that we took from Wilson to Walter Hill. There were some disagreement. Should that have ever been moved from Wilson to Walter Hill? That was previous boards many years ago. Regardless, eventually the board is going to have to consider Walter Hill will become overcrowded with the current zones. That is several years away. As I mentioned earlier, we
139were doing reszoning. Uh we have talked a lot about not doing this every single year. So when Rob and I met, we looked at going ahead in any area that we knew that was going to require resoning, going ahead and trying to to tackle that. In investigating that, we realized we have pre two preK or four preK programs there. Once the dust settles on resoning, we may have to look at all of our pre-co programs anyways because of this IPK change and some of the the differences that places on some schools that may have only IPK or VPK and what the the load that places on our schools to to try to be as fair and equitable as possible. So, no decisions about moving all four programs versus two versus two, but realistically, we are
140going to have to try to move something if the integrated model stays the way it is. And I I do not hear anything from the state that they're willing to change that. They are starting to get some emails from parents. So, sometimes gets emails from parents >> that can change some things. >> Yeah. So right now as the stands we're not making >> no >> any decisions to move those four programs but because of the change of the state we are going to look at all of the programs we always do every year >> county and that will potentially impact programs anywhere in the county. >> Yes. Y >> just want to bring that conversation >> just so that we can >> prek has been moved unfortunately around. We have had them in different places.
141We moved a lot of them to John Coleman Annex over the years. Then as John Coleman annex kind of moved away. We moved the preschool programs 10 of them or more away and the virtual school over to Holloway. So we have moved different programs throughout the years. But as we look at numbers, we are going to have to get more traditional classrooms um at >> walk. But for this what what what the board is going to be doing on in Thursday >> when we're excluding Walter here Walter Walter reszoning Walter Hill area to Wilson is not going to automatically remove those four classrooms out of Walter Hill the prek classrooms correct >> and that'll be on me so I can get mad at me. >> I just want to get that clarity. >> Yeah. >>
142Thank you so much Dr. Sullivan. You guys have worked so hard. You and Rob have worked really hard in this. I very painful. >> If I look at another neighborhood node to count individual kids and houses. >> Yeah. Well, this is very painful. >> It's like a 3 week break from counting on student nodes of how many kids go somewhere. So, >> well, it's very very painful. I do not like resoning. I don't want to revisit resoning again for a long time um for elementary school and middle schools for a while. Um but thank you for working on this. Um we the board voted and you guys you Rob did do those guidance and then the board voted based upon the guidance and priority. So thank you for all the hard work that you both
143have done. >> I'm sorry I'm always that person of why do we know why and this might be Mr. Rosson might know what's behind the potential to change things regarding our princip uh our preschools and integrated preschools. What what's what >> somebody's new interpretation? Anytime you have anybody in position, they can have a different interpretation. So, >> okay. >> Yep. >> Okay. Is there anybody else that would like to bring anything forward? >> If not, Miss Darby, >> don't forget we need to go to