001Say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Next, we have the approval of the consent agenda. Any comments or questions? >> M. Maxwell. >> Yes, Mr. Tidwell. >> Can I make a request that we move the DSL portion uh to further down maybe behind instruction because I believe there'll be some discussion on that. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. Okay. Do you care if we move it down? >> We may not see a second, but just in case. So, where do you you want to move it to? >> Behind instruction. >> Yes, please. >> Number 30 under instruction. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> I'll entertain a motion for the approval of the consent agenda. >> Move to approve. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Tidwell. Thank you, Mr. on.
002All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. >> Next we have Rutherford Proud. >> So the is we are going to recognize our CMA music teachers of excellence. Uh we talked about this a at our last board meeting. We had three Rutherford County Schools music educators that were recognized as 2025 CMA music teachers of excellence. Only 30 teachers nationwide were selected, which makes it even more of an honor for three of them to be from Rutherford County. I was supposed to be in that, but I had to send Dr. Martin. I've talked to several of you why I couldn't be there. So, apologize I couldn't be there because I I definitely wanted to be. We have Reggie Coleman, band director of Rocky Fork Middle School. And if you guys can come up and
003then Dr. Halford, if you want to say anything, it's totally up to you as well. Um Garrett D, choir director at Smyrna High School and then Nick Ftou, band director at Riverdale High School. >> Nick, did I do half? >> You did great. >> Thank you. >> Wonderful. Thank you. I just want to say again to reiterate what Dr. Sullivan said, how proud we are that out of 30 nationwide music teachers of excellence, three of them are right right here in Rutherford County. And it speaks to the quality of our music programs, the quality of educator we have uh because of the support of our board and our leadership and um and the importance placed on music education here that we have these wonderful educators. So thank you all and congratulations to you three. >>
004Congratulations. [Applause] Thank you everybody. >> Next we have RCS strong staff awards Mr. Evans. So, we're going to do it a little bit different differently tonight that um we don't have a backdrop over here because television is what we're working on figuring that out. But, we're going to line up in front of the board tonight. Um so thankful for our crew over here at Sonic, Chris Braggs, and Aler. They have greeted us again all year long. Uh of course, we launched this last year. They came to every one of these even though we had to change some things around the past minute. So, just appreciate their continued partnership with our school system and for recognizing our staff members. We also have a new category this year. We had this request because we have a lot
005of people in this building who are hourly employees and things like that. They said, you know, there's not really a category for for those central office employees. And I when I say that, I don't mean the leadership team. We're we're exempt from these kinds of awards, but we have a lot of other people who serve uh they serve long hours here. So, we want to make sure we recognize those. And I'm really happy with the one that was picked this year or this month. We had more than 700 nominations for the month of August when we put this out and we'll be doing another request tomorrow for the next set which will be in October. That's more than we had the entire year last year. So people are starting to recognize the awards and like
006those. We did the selection a little different this year too. We picked three from every category randomly using one of those wheels that Mr. G likes. Um and then and then we went through those nominations as a leadership team and Dr. Z of course made the final call but uh everyone's this argument and I'm hoping some more of these things will come back around. So we're going to start tonight with our administrator our principal award that's from Mr. Richard Reed who of course is the principal of Lever Middle School. I told Mr. Reed I was going to ask this question. Uh, what was your growth score this year? What was the last year? How many years have you been there? >> Two. Okay. >> I mean, as principal, too. Yes. >> Okay. So, the nomination
007for Mr. Reid, this is what I'm going to read this. I was part of the LMS family before Mr. Reid joined the LMS team as an assistant principal. I have never attempted to lead the school because of the dedication to the students and community service, and I felt that culture mattered more than time travel, scores, or ratings. This goes on to say, "I thought our school was as close to perfect as it could be, but Mr. Reed has elevated that reasoning even more for me. He raised the bar to LMS even though I didn't think that we could go get any higher. He spends countless hours devoted to the students in the building, especially the ones who need a hero the most. His compassion towards our students is like none other that I witnessed. He
008has sewn seeds that Rutherford County area will seed for decades. So, that's your nomination." All right. Next up is Miss Sarah Sears, who is an instructional coach at Rockville Middle School. >> You've been in that position about seven years now. Is that right? That's right. Okay. 16 years total. >> Yes. >> Okay. See, I did some reading on. Uh I originally started, this is the nomination. I originally started as an EA and transitioned to a teaching position midway through last school year. Being in education was totally new to me to me and she has been as Miss Sears has been an incredibly supportive teammate. She answered every question I've had, guided me through various online programs and help me navigate workplace dynamics. Her mentorship and guidance have been instrumental in building my confidence and growth
009as an educator. And while I know I still have plenty to learn, I'm grateful for the foundation she's helped me build, and I look forward to continuing to learn from you. So, that's your nomination. Congratulations. All right. Under the support staff category, Miss Stephanie, and I never say your name right, but I'm going to try to say match. Am I close? Okay. So, I've known Stephanie for many, many years. She is the best uh school secretary I think I've ever met. She is, of course, at Rockville High School with Mr. Lucer. She's been with him at multiple schools, I believe. Is that right? Came with Smart Middleton for punishment. Is that right? >> Okay. 18 years. Miss Stephanie goes out of her way to comfort and welcome every staff member and student. She is mother
010of all of us teachers. She's a mother to all of us teachers and the most beloved person in our school. She's always pleasant and accommodating. No recognition would be adequate. She is a rock star. So congratulations. All right. So, our first central office uh award winner is Miss Renee Pope from our human resources department. Got Miss Pope received multiple nominations, but I'm going to read one of them. Uh and it's a really cool one. I'll tell you why when I get done. Renee goes above and beyond for her job. She trained me and is always a good example of what an advent should be. I can go to Renee with any questions and she will have an answer for me every time. She gave me a tour of the building to introduce me to everyone.
011She made sure that I had all of my loginins even though it took some extra effort by constantly emailing people. She took excellent notes and set me up so that I am prepared for any issues that I may face with the job. I even noticed some of the analysts going to her for questions as well. She is definitely one of the most knowledgeable people in the HR department. Now that comes from Miss Jordan who who took your position because you got promoted up and this was only just a few days after trainer. She was so impressed with me. She just had the foundation. I thought that was extra special. Congratulations. [Applause] >> Last but not least is Miss Gail Howell, bus 243. I got the bus number right. Right. I know that means a lot.
012I just want to make sure I get it right. Miss How always takes each uh takes such great care of the students who ride her bus. She loves on their families as well. The beginning of the year is always stressful for parents and staff and she makes sure students are well taken care of and arrive home safely every afternoon. Congratulations. And tell us who this handsome guy is with. >> What's his name? >> Randy. All right. Welcome. All right. So, [Applause] if I could just get the board to stand up and we're just going to take a photo right here. You can't eat dots. >> Okay, Miss Maxwell, I have one more thing and then I'm done. >> Yes. Thank you. >> So, in front of you all is the this month's communications report. It's
013the light flu or maybe the um not going to read all this to you, of course, but we try to show you some of the highlights that we're doing each month. And we've had a big month, even though it's just the the first few weeks of school. As you probably saw, Lever High School had the big announcement this week at Northern Tool that they're they've been selected as the only high school in the country to help repurpose this brand new Harley Street bike into a dirt track bike. Um, those kids were giddy. It was just a great experience to see. Uh, we also highlighted Oakland High School's Dr. Darren Matthysse, I'm sorry, Dr. Sarah Darren Matthysse, uh, who is leading their bio STEM biotech program over there. And I had the opportunity to see her
014classroom today. It's really, you'll see it Sunday. It's really incredible. It's a It's a college level there in the high school and it's the students are just going to get so much great opportunity out of it. Uh there's some other things there you can see. Of course, we have the um ribbon cutting for Oakland on Sunday at 2. On the back side of the page are some of our comparison numbers from August to August. I'm not going to go through all these. What I like to say is all the arrows are pointing up, which is what we like. Uh now, Mr. bought brought me his company's numbers and like to brag that his are higher than ours and I I said that's great. I think his marketing budget is about four times ours too. So
015we we can trade if he wants. So but >> yes, I appreciate that. Uh something interesting at the bottom there on the website, we have 109 active users this past month. Some of the top pages that are visited, which is probably no surprise, with the bus route page, the academic calendar, the lunch menu, and then open jobs. There are not too many open jobs right now. Cross is doing a great job. So, I just want to highlight some of those. Are there any questions or any information I can bring back next month? >> Okay. >> Doing great. >> Thank you, Miss Maxwell. >> Thank you. >> We had our guest speaker. He was here, Mr. uh Mike Sparks. Representative Mike Sparks was here Tuesday and he left with us a resolution of which we all
016have sitting by our packets and um he would ask for our support. Move to approve. Thank you Mr. Rosalis. Thank you Mr. W. I'll just go ahead and say I appreciate him coming and speaking and all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? >> Opposed. >> Okay. Dearly noted. Okay. 5 to two. Resolution passes. Next, we have public comments. And we do have one person that signed up for public comments. Her name is Whitney Rudden. Hi. Did I pronounce that right? >> Okay. Sorry. It's okay. Hi everyone, my name is Whitney Hoffman. I have two students at Popppler Hill, which is a new elementary school. Very excited about that. I am also a Sunday school teacher at St. Luke's Catholic uh Catholic school uh Catholic Church uh in Smyrna. And I am talking today just
017in support of the parents ESL program. I think it's an incredibly important initiative that we passed in Rutherford County. And I think it's really shown great improvements to school outcomes. It's shown an increase in other counties that have done it in parental engagement, which is a number one predictor of student outcomes. So the more that our parents can speak to our teachers and our staff in English, the better the outcome is for our students. There was actually a longitudinal study done on dual language learners in Miami that showed that these types of programs and early acquisition of English predicted significantly better outcomes for individuals through fifth grade, including higher test scores, lower risk of grade retention, higher GPA, fewer social and emotional problems, better improved student attendance, intergenerational gains, and also improvements in parent engagement
018within the schools. So I just wanted to briefly speak that I think this is a very important initiative. As a person who teaches a lot of children who do not have uh parents that speak English, it is incredibly important that we have information and that they can gain access to English language learning that helps them engage better with their students and with our schools to improve the outcomes within all of Ruford County. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next up, we have instruction number one. So, we discussed at our work session the middle school reszoning and so just went over what was approved last time our timeline. We got the email today from RSP about re getting all our files so that they can do our analysis because they we can
019wait until the end of September to do the analysis since we are still having students. We'll have the board retreat on November 4th to look at enrollment trends and possible changes. that we'll have I believe we have a meeting at the beginning of November have discussions for the next month of November and then make a decision on middle school zones in December to be able to implement. I'll tell you we are looking at posting that middle school principal position November 3rd or 10th somewhere during that timeline because it's always good for parents to have an idea of who the principal is going to be before you actually put the reszoning in place. Uh we are going to have to look at changing a little bit. We talked about the the Rockville Blackman area in Rockville
020is not going to get enough relief. So shifting some of those students towards Blackman looking in the downtown area. Um one of the other things that there's going to be a talking about reszoning. We talked about this in August. Stewart Creek Elementary School is a little bit over their projection. They're projected just over,00 students. They're over 1150 at this point. We do have over 75 student employee zone exemptions for students at that school. And so that area is projected even with RSP to be back to 13,400 in the next three years. And so we're going to have to look at shifting that zone since there's not going to be another elementary school in that area in that time. That's, as we talked about in August, not going to be a fun decision because, you know,
021going to be a combination or look at moving the Browns Chapel zone back over on the bill road or looking at and looking at employee zone exceptions. So, it's going to have to be a combination of that. >> Thank you. Number two, >> this is David Year in Leverne Lake Elementary requesting to partner with better lessons for professional development plans throughout the 2526 school year. Expeditionary learning. EL's our current English language arts adoption for elementary schools and better lessons. We'll work with our administration teachers from both faculties to improve instruction using our tier 1 curriculum plan will include an in-person baseline learning walk with administrators provide inerson workshops with teachers and inerson learning walks in the building. Funding for this plan will not exceed 60,500 for the two schools or come from title one funds.
022>> Any comments or questions? >> Thank you, Mr. Martin. Thank you, Miss Sharp. All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes and we go back to the ESL. >> Yep. And we have Miss Turbo here as well to help answer any questions if there are any. The ESL department's requesting the use of title three funds to conduct an ESL parent class at Smart Elementary School. Eric Agular ESLA will be paid $25 an hour for two hours of instruction each week. For semester 1, the class meets 12 weeks. Semester 2, the class will meet 17 weeks. Total payment of $1,450 for the 2526 school year. ESL department's also requesting the use of title three funds to conduct an ESL parent class at Smyrna Primary. Adisa Alvarez, ESLBA, will be paid $25 an hour
023for two hours of instruction each week. Again, semester 1, the class will meet for 12 weeks. For semester 2, the class made 17 weeks, total payment of $1,450 for the 2526 school year. ESL department requests to use Title 3 funds to provide a $2,000 stipen to ESL coaches for after school professional development responsibilities. And you see the coaches listed. And then last, ESL department request to add Rachel Sanderson campus school and Aaron Woodard McFaten to the list of ESL lead teachers receiving the lead stipend. The thousand dollars you paid to each teacher for their extra duties from title three. And then we got an email last night and I sent this to the board as well today, but you may not have had time to read it. The uh program's been in place since at
024least the 2019 2020 school year, which is as far as they can make go back and look in E plan, which is the approval process. Proposed program for the 2526 school year is smaller than what we did last year. Uh we had questions about the title three funds, what they can be used for. Title three funds for the 2526 school year, which is this year, are already approved and been sent to districts from the federal government and approved by Tennessee Department of Education. We have to go through an application process and approval process with the Tennessee Department of Education to use our consolidated funds. That was already approved. Congress is having a lot of discussion about federal education funds which I'm sure will impact us in the future, but those won't impact us until July
025of 2026. the we have a from the Tennessee Department of Education a federal spending handbook and so they go through and I'll just read a couple that districts are allowed to do and have to meet certain qualifications and bullet points to be able to do on page 31 the last bullet points because that's what title 3 is talked about. It says title three part 8 the purposes are promote parental family and community participation in language instruction educational programs for the parents families and communities of eelss. On page 32, it talks about what it can fund. And that section states providing and implementing other effective activities and strategies that enhance the or supplement language instruction educational programs for eels. And it says which must and this is bolding underline for the department of education include in
026bold parent family and community engagement activities. On page 33, it lists the document continues with authorized subgrantee, which would be a district and LEA. Those activities include providing community participation programs, family literacy services, parent and family outreach and training activities to eels and their families to improve language language skills and to assist parents and families in helping their children to improve their academic achievement and lastly becoming active participations in the education of their children. So just want to provide some background and whatever the board decides of course we'll support but this has been a needed and well done activity in our school for the last five years. >> Miss Turbo is here if anyone has any questions or comments or just wants to say anything. Miss Mr. Tidwell. >> Yes. Um so I knew there
027would be some discussion around this. I've received phone calls, text messages, emails, everything about this and I've heard kind of from both sides. Um my question is is kind of or my the discussion point I want to have for the board is probably not what uh is expected here but the the thought here that I have is as Dr. Soul just said there are of course grounds for all this. It's been operating for the past four or five years. Um you know and there's there's I'm sure there's been some successful pieces to this. So I'm not against it on that particular garden. Matter of fact, I have a a good friend that went through it at one of our schools and um you know, he's a citizen, definitely helped him. Um he's very productive in
028our community. So, for that reason, it's not that I'm against this program. Where I kind of ran into some I say just some barriers is well, is is this being offered anywhere else? And so my friend uh he said or he was he was saying that he he chose our program, but there were other programs out there. So I did some research to see what programs there were. There's some churches that do it. Uh the library does it. There's there's other options out there. Uh those options include Zoom classes in person. U so so there's there's other options. They're not fully attended. They're pretty flexible. So I thought, okay, well then that leads me back to a conversation we were have been having for the past year and we had a resolution on uh earlier
029this January is that we are going to the state asking them for more funding and I realize this is federal funds but we're going to ask for more funding for ESL students, EL students while at the same time we're using funding for something that we're technically not required to do uh which is outside the K through 12 program which is our main interest which is students. So, the discussion point that I'm trying to bring forth the board today is not necessarily against helping parents. Of course, I'm for parents and I agree with the lady that spoke that the best thing to help students is parent involvement. I agree with that 100%. Um, so yeah, come on up here. I'm throwing some stuff out there, but that's kind of where I'm at on it. Um, so,
030>> well, I'm glad you brought it up. I mean, I want there to be open transparency and open dialogue about it. Um, one thing that and I brought this just in case y'all wanted to see it, but the allowable use of funds. >> Yeah, >> pass it down. >> Absolutely. >> I'll wait till everybody gets it. >> But you can you can see um there are three things that I must budget for or I will not be approved. Um, and I'll wait till you can see it starts number one at the bottom. Underline, bolded, italicized the word must. And also the thing is when my title three budget is not approved, all of the budgets are not approved. They're all in that consolidated fund. Um, so if I don't put these three things in, it's
031going to be sent back to me. And you'll see number one starts at the very bottom, required uses of title three. The first one is bolded effective language instruction educational programs. If you flip the page, you'll see number two, effective professional development. And then you'll see number three, other effective activities and strategies. And then it goes on to bold, italicize, underline, must include parent, family, and community engagement activities. Um, and so we spend a very small amount of our title three budget. There's actually been conversation from monitors in the past that we didn't spend enough on parent engagement. So, this was just one way that we really thought was cost-effective that it wasn't taking away from the K12 program because you're right, we have a lot of students and we need our title three funds,
032but I'm also under requirements of certain things to make sure I do set aside in my budget um some community and parent outreach. And then even on the the last page if you in that expenditure page six it tells you allowable cost for English learner family support and engagement you'll see the second bullet point supplemental parent and family engagement for EL families including ESL instruction for parents. Um so I think that the ones that we have is reasonable. you know, we're talking about maybe it's under $10,000 for out of a $1.3 million budget, you know. So, I think that's how I would answer is I've got to do some things. I do think this is a great thing for our families. It actually got started um before me, of course, with one class, but we
033added the Smyrna Elementary class because it was a request of Miss Ritter. she's actually here tonight. Um because she said it was the number one thing asked for at her spring planning meetings. And so she came to me and said, "Is this an allowable use of your funds? Can we do this?" And we added that one there. Um then we got a big grant in the spring and we did those additional 10 locations. We didn't do those again because it was just part of the grant. I wasn't going to use all my money. You know, I'm trying to use it wisely. Um, but the only other one we added was the Smyrna Primary because it had the best attendance out of all of them, all the extra 10 we did with the grant. Um, and
034we had a teacher that was very passionate about it. She's actually got a lot she's going to improve the whole program honestly um, with the passion she has and she's already made a connection with me to succeed to improve our curriculum. So to long story short, to answer your question, we we've got to do something in our budget for that parent engagement piece and and I felt like this was a very small amount in in the scope of our budget. >> Thank you for that explanation. I mean, clarity is key. So I appreciate that. >> Absolutely. >> Um and that was one of my biggest hang-ups is just the separation of if we're having funding shortages in this, right? then are we taking funding away for something else >> right >> that we're not required
035but as I'm understanding what you're saying it is a requirement >> it is yeah and I I think if you look through those like the federal spending handbook u that Dr. Sullivan was referencing and then you know what I gave you here for the allowable costs. I can't get around that word must. And for those three things and then after that there's a lot of wiggle room. You'll see some allowable costs that we can do. Um that's up to us but those those three we we just can't not do it. Now could I do something else? You know yes I could. We actually do a lot of parent meetings. Those don't cost any money though. I've got to find a way to prove that I have spent money on parent engagement. And I love the
036parent classes. I do think it's a it's a good way to do that. And again, it's it's very common. 10,000 and a 1.3 million. You know, it's a small amount in my eyes and it hasn't taken away totally. Sorry, Mr. Voss from K12. >> Mr. W is first and then >> Thank you for that. >> Oh, you're welcome. Let me know if you have more questions. you know uh a must is a must and uh I think for this this reason that communications is uh so very important but especially when if you improve the communication abilities of parents and with the teachers it's going to benefit the kids and for that reason I'd like to make a motion to approve so >> second C can we not have some more discussion? >> Yeah, we can
037have some more discussion. >> Yeah, but thank you. We got the motion and we've got a second and go ahead. Did you >> Well, I think M results. Okay. Yeah. So, u Thank you. So, I was a smart enough elementary school and I was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of kids and parents that had a language barrier. And if you look at the whole pie, not even the $1.3 million that we get from the federal dollars, just look at the whole entire budget, we get sp8 something million dollars. I did a total of this and it's 13,500550. That's how much this is that we're getting asked to allocate just to provide ESL classes for the parents so they can learn English. It's very it's very difficult whether we like it or not. We're put
038in a position where we're having to communicate with people and they don't know the language and it's very very hard to communicate and understand what is being said. And I don't know why we're even having discussions since we voted for this two weeks ago to have it when what we're doing is saying that we're wanting them to learn the language so that we can communicate back and forth and understand what is being said instead of scrambling with Google Translate on the phone trying to translate what people are saying what they're saying. And there's so many different languages. It's not just Spanish, there's Arabic and even within Spanish there's a different dialect. So the fact that we're trying to remedy a situation that it's out of our control, I think it's a good thing. >> Okay.
039Yes. Now, Miss Sharp, Mr. Darby, that's next. I apologize. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Um, hi. Thanks for being here tonight. After looking at this and going over the history, I think this probably was shifted from our title two funds because there was some parent involvement in that. Would that do you think title one? I I know that they had shifted away and they had reduced the parental involvement >> should have been title one. Title two is professional development. >> Sorry, title one. Title one because I was dismayed that they had taken the parents u participation in their oh pretty much way and they they really lowered that to like a one or two percent. So really looking and talking to everybody now, this looks like they probably shift it from type one to here
040and that's it's a it's a it's a minimal amount. I get what everybody's saying. Uh it is a hard it is hard to to speak with the parents. Um, my concern is do we think really that there's going to be anybody that shows up because I I read the Spanish pages as well when they have translator. Uh, and there was people in there that were making comments about don't do it. >> Well, I will say um I'm sorry. >> Well, they were just saying that, you know, don't do it. It's a it's a it's a trap basically what they were saying. So, I'm I'm fearful that people are going to be fearful to come. Do you have a lot of people that have shown up, signed up already? >> Well, we we're starting after fall
041break. Um they had been working on this new curriculum with Read to Succeed. So, it kind of slowed us down getting started. Um but the the teachers, they're returning teachers and they've already had people reaching out saying, "When are we starting back?" You know, that have been with them in the spring. Um, so I can't tell you what the attendance is going to be, but I do know there's parents planning to come as of now based on what the teachers have told me. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Darby. Did you have >> I did just a couple things. Thank you for the information provided earlier this week when I asked. And Miss Sharp, I have the the previous averages I can forward to you if you want to see them. Um, I'm
042just curious how many different Do you know how many different languages we're teaching through this program right now? >> Just English. >> No, I don't know how many other languages were servicing. >> No, the majority will be Spanish because that's the majority that's represented at SR Elementary and Sarna Primary, but I don't know the variety. >> Miss Ritter, do you happen to know if there's multiple language? >> That would be my guess. I was curious about that because I know Smyrna has has a pretty big Arabic population. I was curious if they were attending as well. >> Most are not in that zone though. A lot are a little more over like Ste Creek is a little heavier Arabic. Not to say there's not Arabic there too. Um but our what's on your the consent
043agenda tonight um is actually to add some bilingual staff. the the two teachers were approved August 21st and then they said to me, "Hey, I think we've messed up and not added a helper, an assistant that is bilingual and they're both Spanish speakers." So that would be my expectation of what will attend the Spanish speakers, but you know, even in our ESL classes in the schools, we have multiple languages sitting around the table, we're all working toward learning English. So, um, but what you're is on the agenda tonight is to add two bilingual aids, one for each school. >> Okay. >> And I meant to say, Mr. Troll, that we do advertise all those other the churches and all the read to succeed working mission. They're all on our website and we've already sent it
044out to parents, too. I mean, we have not just in our English program, but when you look at our, you know, school data, we have 16,000 families that speak another language at home. So, our two classes are not going to make a big dent. Um, so we definitely share all those others and they're on the website, too. >> Yes, Mr. Tidle. >> I appreciate that. Like I said, I had a friend that went through the class and it was it was great, very useful for him. Um, so again, I when there is a point of contention, I don't want it to feel to the public like we swept it underneath the rug and there's been some stuff out there and it's been floating around. So I'd rather address address it all publicly as you have
045done it tonight. I appreciate that clarity. Uh, so I have the clarity that I needed. The last question that that I have is the previous attendance. I mean, you are having people show up to these things. >> Yes. And I can Do you want me to read that out? >> I'm sorry. The pajamas. I've got it actually because Miss Darby had asked for it earlier, so I brought it with me. Um, but they had they told me it was typically for all the years 15 to 20 parents per night. And then in the spring, um, they went down a little bit at Smyrna Elementary and the one that we have a church host for us. Um, but we also had 10 other classes operating. Um, and so they were saying about 5 to seven at
046Simone Elementary and at the church. And then Cedar Grove was average of six, Rocky Fork Elementary an average of two. So that was one, you know, was really low. Stewarts Creek Elementary 4, Smyrna Primary 16, which is why we chose to do uh this one again. Roy Waldron nine, Leverne Lake six, Leverne Middle 10th, Whitworth Buchanan four, Rock Springs six, Leverne High six, and that's an average. When I looked at the signage sheets, there'd be nice, there'd be three, there'd be nice, there'd be 20. You know, it was up and down. >> Okay, awesome. Thank you. >> Any other questions for Miss Turbo? >> Okay, we have a motion on the floor. We have a second. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed. Motion passes. Now we move on to engineering and construction. >>
047Thank you, Mr. Turbo. And thank you, board. So the next thing we have is engineering construction. And Mr. Lee talked about this on Tuesday night. City of Lever Walton Road realignment request. City of Lever's working to realign and widen Walter Road in Rock Springs Elementary. JMT Property Services represents the city of Lever. The purchased properties for the Walton Road widening. You'll see below the offer is $215,595 based on the value for the property of 75,000 per acre. There's a bonus if signed within 30 days to add $21,560 for a total of $237,160. Engineering construction request and has no objections. >> Any comments or questions? >> Move to approve. >> Second. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Next we have school nutrition. >> School
048nutrition job description revision. School nutrition department's updating the current position listed as a field manager to align with the current role. Position has been listed as a field manager but has been performing the duties of a commodities and contract specialist. School nutrition has drafted a job description that's in line with the current duties assigned to the position. Again, it's not a request to add a position, change pay, change days, anything like that. Just an update job description. >> Any comments or questions? >> Thank you, Mr. Oh, who? Thank you, Mr. Sharp. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Now we go to directors. >> Yeah, I think you all, John, if you'll go ahead and pull that up. And so, if y'all just stay with me, I'm going to do the first
049part of our academic scores. And so, for schools, schools are held accountable for several different different things. And the big ones you hear about are going to be your achievement scores, proficiency, and then the other big proportion is around growth. And so we're going to talk about Tivos just a little bit tonight in scores. And so that everybody has an idea of kind of what it is. And so first, what is Tivos? And Tennessee student growth is measured by Tivos. And so this is a huge thing for us uh for a couple reasons. The first being and I had our attendance today person run it and we h excuse me 5,679 kids currently enrolled with us who were not with us last year. And so part of that is kindergarten. You've got your 2,700 kindergarters,
050but you then still have 3,000 students who were not with Rutherford County schools and are with Rutherford County schools now. And so what we always talk about is that we can't control where students come from, what what school system, but what we can focus on is that they have to get a year's growth every single year that they're with us. And that is kind of our charge has been at least when I was in instruction. I know Dr. Chastains continued that our students have to grow and Tivos demonstrates students growth from one year of a testing history to the next, no matter where they were truly at. Ultimately, you want all of your students proficient as well, but proficiency rates are changed and controlled and different across every statement in the nation. And so, when
051you hear people talk about 45% of students in Tennessee are proficient in reading compared to 80% in Kentucky. And I totally just made those numbers up. Just for the record, made those up. Each state has their own test. We don't take the same test. Each state makes their own cut scores for what's considered proficient. What I like to talk about is that if we think back to when you or your children were in school or if your kids in school, think back to what you learned, what our students are learning today is much more advanced to what we were learning at an earlier age. And so that argument doesn't go along with the our schools are performing poorer than they have in the past. If our students are getting exposed and experiencing more advanced content,
052then something is changing the assessment. And so we truly look at T-Boss to see where our students are. I talked just a little briefly about what's the difference. Achievement looks at students one and this is proficiency one set at a time and kids are held accountable and they get their own TECAP scores every year. Are they below? Are they approaching? Are they meets or do they exceed expectations? And for proficiency, you're hitting those top two meets or exceeds. That means you're at grade level. And then growth, that measures student growth again from one year to the next. And for us, we don't again can't control where they came from. So, we want to make sure that they grow while they're with us. When students are compared to growth in TAS, they're compared to two things.
053One, their own past performance. And I've got a little example here that the state had about a decade ago that I still think is the easiest way to understand it. And then they're also compared to others lifetime. And so, I used me as an example. If I scored at the 45th in CE, which is a a statistical term, I'm compared to all other kids in the state who also performed at that level. And so I need to grow just like all those other students. If I do, then I'm considered a level three. I got level three growth. One year is level three. That's why your law districts talk about it. If you are below that, then you would be a level one or two. If you grew more points, then you'd be a level four
054or a five. And so it's truly comparing each kid and how they compare across the state. Here's my favorite example. Um, so it is an old track example. The state has a new track example. So this one I believe is easier. So this one I I like. Students all make the team by previously taking the test. So everybody's on the track team because they took the test. Each person in here could be an individual student, a classroom, a school, or a district. And so we're talking about groups of students at this point. Every person has a different starting position based on how they were last year. So for example, I said I was in the 45th NC. I'm going to be compared to everybody across the state who also is in the 45th NC. Each
055kid is different starting line, but again they're trying to compare to their current group. The start line as we see everybody is going around. We had to make sure the kids still moved in the right order. The group's average performance that's going to be what? Level three is one year. So what did the entire student group for the entire state how much did the entire state grow? We still have and I'll get to it in just a second mastered and on track. So we're not saying and that truly at this point would be meets or exceeds expectations. Again this is an older slide. We transitive terminology. Every kid still we want them to get to proficiency but we can't control where they came from. We just need to make sure that they grow. So you
056see everybody in this green box, they met one year's growth because the entire student group stayed together. We know that's not reality. Not all of our students perform in a great little green box. They go all over the place. And so they're going to run again and I hope they stay back on track. Most of them you will see where most of them are clustered together. That would be what's considered a level three. the the group they didn't get to proficiency but they all grew and this would have been your average growth for the state for people that were like me at the 45th NC for a classroom for a district those would be what are your level 30s the poor person that's labeled number four they fell behind and so they didn't get a
057year's growth if a kid doesn't get a year's growth there's usually a couple reasons one they had a rough year something happened or two they had a teacher that wasn't focused on standards And so we truly make sure that if we have a teacher or school that's not focused on standards and kids aren't performing, we need to make changes to make sure everybody gets growth. Where we have been and where we continue to be is where that six is. And so again, there's the four. They didn't meet expectations. We want to be here that we exceeded expectations. And so we're extremely proud to be that to be there. Always trying to get to mastered on track for the highest number of students we can. And so we are proud and our school board knows this.
058We've announced it as a district, but we are a level five district. We have been for the past six consecutive school years. And we are a level five district in every single content area. You get it. In numeracy, which is math, literacy, which is ELA, that combine numeracy and literacy together to give you another score. That's five. Science where five, and social studies, we're five. We also had 32 of our 48 tested schools earn a level five, which is a phenomenal achievement for our schools. And again, anything over a three is considered to be one year's growth, but we truly want our kids to to gain more. We expect fours and fives. There's a list of schools, and I'll just read them quickly. The level five schools, we'll do a celebration for them here in
059the next couple months. Barfield, Blackman, Buchanan, Cedar Grove, Central, Christian Elementary, Cristiana Middle, John Coleman, Kitrol, Lascases, Leverne Middle, McFaten, Oakland, Oakland Middle, Oakland High, Oakland Middle, Plain View Elementary, Riverdale High, Rock Springs Middle, Rockville Elementary, Rockville High, Rockville Middle, Rocky Fork Elementary, Rockville, Rocky Fork Middle, Seagull High, Seagull Middle, Smyrna Elementary, Smyrna Middle, Stewart Creek Elementary, Stewart Creek High, Stewarts Creek Middle, Thurman Francis, Witworth Buchanan, and Wilson. And what's nice about growth, a lot of times achievement is going to be tied to your school's um poverty level and growth. You will see on this is a mixture of our entire county, all schools, all demographics, magnets, high poverty, low poverty, everybody's included. And you can see just by looking at it, it's a little bit of a change for last year, but a lot
060of similar schools as well. The other thing that I've emailed the board but haven't told everyone is that if you look at evaluation composits, which is part of growth, Rutherford County Schools has the highest comp evaluation composite growth, which is TBOS, of any other district in Tennessee. And so that is huge. That shows how much growth our students truly are learning. So to Mr. Bon's point, we have the greatest school system for growth. We did. So what does that look like moving forward? Oh, I forgot about this part. We will, and this is important. Mr. Mr. Tidwell was actually the one that alerted us to it last year. So, schools get a performance bonus. We don't know about our performance bonuses yet because it's on your letter grade. So, this is just the growth portion.
061The achievement portion is not calculated until the report card comes out. Rutherford and Williamson were the only two school districts in Tennessee that received the highest bonus level last year, which was 4 million. And we are right on track to be right around there again this year. And so I appreciate that part being included because that that definitely helps us. That was part of what we talked about, excuse me, with our insurance as well. That helps give back to our teachers that are putting the work in. So congratulations to everyone. That's the work truly starts with our teachers working with our students, but our administrators run small cities and so they're happy to work with our teachers to our students and of course the partnerships with our parents and our community and the vision by
062our school board and then our central office staff. What we talk about a lot is how can we be supportive but how can we not just make bureaucracy to be bureaucracy because it's a large school system that's where your big school systems get in trouble is they make rules just to make rules don't necessarily help anything. So what's it look like for 2526? I don't necessarily want to be Debbie Downer because we're celebrating but I do want to go over a couple things. Tivos is changing for next year. This is strictly at the departments and I'm going to be very careful. The this is at the department's discretion uh not at legislature legislators or anyone else. So they are changing TBOS. It is going to a multi-year. So instead of we get a new score
063every year and this isn't that big of a deal. Your score will be based on onethird of the previous year and twothirds of the current year. Again that's not that big of a a deal. The bigger deals they're changing. So, every school's still going to get a a one through five, except they are now going to use something called effect size. And I'm not going to get too much into the statisticial world here. But once a school and a district is labeled as they earns a one versus five, they are then going to break aparts the ones and the twos and the fours and the fives and differentiate them more. So, you could have a level five earned school that now drops to a level four because of effect size. And in talking about this
064with the department, um really it comes down to the distribution looks like a W right now. You have a lot of ones, not very many twos, a whole lot of threes, not very many fours, a whole lot of fives. They want a bell curve. And so my argument is we're making changes just because the narrative is going to be schools are performing worse when it was just a new measure that was used instead. And if we're using a bell curve, they've talked about they want 20% ones, 20% fives. That's not how a bell curve works. You'd have less numbers um at the two extremes. So I think the biggest challenge that I have because my job is to advocate for res county schools. On the slides provided by the state department, it says larger schools
065are more likely to move towards the middle away from fives. We have large schools. I I don't know a way to to say that other than that. we have large schools. And then their second bullet is that largest schools are more than 10% less likely to be a fire. And so it seems like a system that is it's going to be hard. I fully expected this. Our schools won't drop a lot. They'll move from five to fours. And so it's again just a a statistical model. The department has all the the leeway to do that. I respect the department, but there are definitely some concerns I have what the public's going to see when you go from 32 level five schools to 14 level five schools that this was implemented on last year's data. The
066rest of them are forced because nothing changed. The data was still there. But I wanted to focus on the positives but also make you all aware this is going to be something we have to talk about in the next couple months because that's going to be a a change for schools. the people work at the State Department here in Nashville. Did they formally work at the State Department in Washington? >> I seem like they have the same characteristics. >> I think these are statisticians and I I love numbers too that are just wanting >> and you can argue for either thing. They've used one measure for a while and now they're changing. You could argue for either. It'll help small districts. What they're doing now could have helped large districts. uh just the change and
067how it's going to impact big school systems and big schools when that's pretty much all we have is big schools is a is a challenge. >> Dr. Okay. So, um maybe I didn't hear I'm capturing what you were talking. So, why are they changing the the whole thing? I mean, because you're not showing the graphs, but there's two graphs. there's the current graph of all the schools and how they're laid out is kind of staggering. And then now the new proposal with the new scores, it's more like a bell curve. So that means there'll be there'll be more people pushed in the middle and less people in the in the level five and level uh uh four, I mean level three, I mean level two or one. So why is there a sudden push >>
068in trying to change this? And so my second thing is are they changing the TECAT tests as well because >> no test >> because some of those scoring is dependent on what the TCAT scores are. >> So if they're changing that then shouldn't them be changing the tests too? >> They're they're trying to impress the state legislature to justify the step that they're taking. They're making it trying to >> Well, here's the thing. There was an article that came out and I forget who published it, but they had this particular article talked about um the how what a child will will see on a TCAT test for the ELA portion for third grade. And I don't know how I don't don't know how many people how many educators took it. No, it's actually educators that
069took the test. and they came back and they found at a conclusion that these educators were were not did not do as well because of the type of questions that are being asked on the test. So my question is if they're making all these changes, shouldn't they also revaluate the TCAT test because that is what's being graded on. And if they're wanting everyone to go to the middle, then shouldn't they also look at that as well? >> Hands up. You can make data do whatever you want to and I think what's fr what can be frustrating is that we're we're performing it's going to look like art in community that we are not performing as well when it was just mark was used. The other part connected to that I do want to make the
070board aware of as a this is part of director's update. Again I don't want to lose the focus of the celebration but I do want the board to be aware. The second part and this is this is concerning for elementary school and again this is not legislator involved as the department the we as a board have looked at moving away from as much technology and so that's been the legislation legislator's intent as well. We went one to one in high school and then pushed two to one down to middle instead of being one to one. Uh we were notified, there's been some conversation, we were notified last week that starting in the 2027 school year, and I know that may seem like a long ways away, that's not far away, that the multiplechoice, multiple answer,
071multiple select portion for second through fifth grade is going to be online. And so that that's going to be a challenge. And so we one, that's a fiscal impact that we're going to have to look at computers for second through fifth graders. to developmentally assessing a second grader on content, but they're gonna have to be using a device. That That's a tough sale. And so, just know that is it was mentioned, I think, in our director's update on this last Thursday that that decision has been made. So, second through fifth grade, they're still going to have a writing portion that was handwritten, but the other portions of TECAP starting in spring of 2027 will be online for second through fifth grade. That's that's a struggle. So, >> can I positive ask questions about that? Yes.
072>> Now that we're all >> You have questions on that. Go ahead. >> Yeah. Actually, before we go to the positive real quick, um could you go back over uh the the what you call it? How they're redoing I forget the word you just used. >> Effect size. >> Yes. And so effect size is another statistical measure. Right now they use growth and growth gives you a growth measure. does give credit to large school systems because there's more history and you have a larger pool to say, "All right, this school is successful because you have a lot of students feeding into that." Effect size looks at other things to be able to get some standard deviation and standard error and all kinds of different things. It's just a you're still going to use the growth
073measure to determine if you're a one through a five, but then they're going to apply the effect size to see if you're a four or a five or a one or two. And so it's a it's just a different statistical analysis. I asked for the purpose and that was kind of the reason. So >> So Dr. Svin, I know you may not know this answer, but the gross measure is what we use for, for example, ESL students where they're different tiers. that is where they're really measured on is on the growth side. They're not really measured on the uh the academic performance. So, if we're changing the effective if we're moving to an effective size, how is that going to look like for those schools that have a majority like Smart Elementary School for example
074or um in that have a a the demographics of ESO students are pretty significant and that is a measure that really helps that school. So how is that gonna how will that barometer move? >> So the schools and what I've challenged in talking with the department and they were very receptive to this. They said individual teacher scores will not change and so how their earning scores will not have effect size. That is true for teachers that are in a tested area. But if you're a non-ested area teacher, your overall level of effectiveness is determined by the school's level. So if your school is going from a five to a four, your individual score is going to drop as well. And they were very receptive to that too when they say the teacher scores won't change.
075That's not necessarily accurate. Um Smyrna Elementary and all of our schools that have are large schools, we talked about we may see it drop just based on the economy. What I want to reiterate to the board is that our mission doesn't change to make sure that we want all of our students to grow. And so that is still our expectation. And I put a lot of faith in our teachers to be able to make sure that our groups of kids are learning and growing. And so that's what our focus is going to be because I didn't get a lot of movement. I'm trying to change that back. >> So >> Mr. Thank you, Madam Chair. I moved down 5,679 >> were new students to us this year. >> So from May to August, we had
076that many students. >> Yeah. But you do have to remember about 28 2,700 kids were kindergarteners. Okay. the rest of them have moved in and we lost students as well. So we had students move out and these students replace them. That is just a large number of kids who we talk about mobility. We have a lot of mobility. >> So what is that number? Because it's usually between 1500 2,000 >> growth wise. We're exactly where we were last year. >> Okay. >> So >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other comments? Yes. uh you know the uh the state department changing the way they're doing things shouldn't surprise anybody. Um I've been involved with this ever since they first began. Good point. And every two or three years they come up with it. everybody's got a
077better math script and so you know they come up with it and what they do they keep shifting numbers and doing things in different ways uh for various reasons and uh now they're wanting to push everybody to the middle and the bell curve that's what a bell curve does it just pushes it back to the to the middle and so you know it's just one more thing they've done and you know they can't they can't live well enough alone and I guess they thought they had a better way for it. But I don't know, you know, it's just uh it makes it difficult because you can't get comfortable and doing it one thing without them changing it and have do it some other way. And so, you know, and it come at the end of
078the day, it's all about what kids learn. It's not how much you test them, it's how much they learn. and whatever you got to do to teach them. That's what it's all about because at the end of the day, it's how much the kids take home. That's reading value added is so important. This is how much the kids have learned. >> And you know that tells you that our our folks are doing the best job in the state of Tennessee. Literally. Yes. >> Yeah, we are. >> Yeah. >> Miss Maxwell, I have one more question. Dr. Simon, um it's September. Have we received from the states what the measures are for the view scores >> partial? So we've received the and this is where this change was but what the cuts are going to be
079between a one two and a four to five will be released later this fall >> later this fall. >> Yeah. >> So that's something we can help is trying to get that information pushed down. That is something that I have relayed about >> and it is getting quicker. It's not back to where it was 5 years ago, but this is >> we didn't get it before the school year started, but we got it close to the school year. >> Good. >> Just the cuts aren't there. So, truly still don't know what this will be. >> That's good because that's something that I've been relaying to our lawmakers and other people that we need the communication to build it more quicker. >> Y >> So, that's that's promising. >> Good news. Yes. So, good news. We
080had our something that I wanted to go ahead and start was develop a relationship a better relationship with the mayors in our county. And so we had our first mayoral council meeting today. So we had it here all city municipality mayors and county mayor Clark met today. So I appreciate all of them taking their time out of their day to just kind of one here's an overview of the school system but two let's look at growth. Where is growth coming from? and what are y'all's perception of the school system even though it may not reality be reality whatever someone's perception is to be their reality. So just trying to forge those relationships better because ultimately for our school system to be successful and for our county to be successful we have to have a strong
081public school system and having those partnerships it was a we only met for an hour we could have met for a lot longer and so it was it was a great first meeting today. >> I think that's excellent. Thank you for doing that. Is there anything else? Mr. Darby, >> I just wanted to speak a little bit on the bus resolution and why I was in opposition to it because we really didn't have discussion and I didn't want to pull you back to it earlier. Um, I just wanted to say that I'm not against it if the data backs up that it doesn't increase a risk to our students and unfortunately the graph that was sent I asked for some more information on that I never did receive. that according to T DOT um the
082drivers with the most accidents are between the ages of 16 and 25. And that's just in general. That's not school bus drivers specifically. Um to Dr. Sullivan's point, we have to be careful when we look at data because you can the highest percentage of accidents could be in your drivers that range from 45 to 65. But that's where the majority of your school bus drivers fall in their age range. It's obvious that that's where the majority of the accidents are going to come from if you only have two 25 year olds driving. So, um, that's what I had asked for clarification on that I hadn't received yet. So, I don't have an issue looking at that and supporting that if the data doesn't put our students at a higher risk. But that's where my concern
083comes from. I just wanted to let the public know why voted in opposition to that. >> Okay. Miss Maxwell. Yes. So I just want to say that this is um September is the month for suicide awareness month and um prevention and then there was a conference that was said that would happen in uh a week this past week this past week over in I think it was at Embassy Suites hotel and it was a sparking change igniting passion and there was some breakout sessions about uh suicide prevention and how to help that with within the school system and I hate that I missed it because I really wanted to go to that conference. Um Amy Baltimore who used to work here, she had invited me to attend and so um I hope that I can
084make it next year. >> Any guess? >> I will address the bus issue as well because I had several people call. I spoke with other representatives and representatives of um Cameron Sexon's office and they're not going to change this. The state general assembly is not going to change this. T dot's not going to change this though. It's a liability for our school system to have the younger drivers in the buses. So that was my opposition to it. >> Thank you. Thank you, >> Mr. V. >> All right. Uh, two things, Trey, before you go to sleep on me. Um, can you give us just I'm teasing. I'm teasing. I leave you out of this. Uh, can you give us a quick update about routes, unfilled routes, bus transportation, how everything is going. Uh, and maybe
085Dr. Sullivan, you have posted the new transportation director's job. Is that correct? >> Yes, it's still taking applications. stuff we've been posted for several weeks. We have it national. We have local statewide. We got >> when when uh when's the cut off? I guess it's >> I don't have one. Okay. Probably during the middle of fall break. We can schedule interviews or right after fall break. >> Just want to bring that to everybody's attention. But if you kindly give us an update and then I have one other thing I want to talk about, Claire. >> Okay. >> We currently have six open routes. We have three contractors that received letters this week, uh, 30-day letters because they do not currently have a driver on their bus. And we have two that had already received 30-day
086letters that they're in operating in that window. If they get to 30 days and still don't have, we will be coming before the board requesting those routes. So, there's potentially 11. Right now, there's currently six. currently six and that's part of policy is to give them 30 days to >> rectify the situation >> generally give them some grace that's week or two before we even start the 30 days. So it could have been >> you know with 30 days it could have been a couple of weeks prior to that. So, it's usually a little longer, but per contract, >> before we can bring their route to you to this board for removal, they have to be officially notified that they have 30 days to rectify the problem. >> And and and that was one thing
087Representative Sparks, we had talked about, you know, getting testing done or, you know, that kind of stuff, background checks done if there's things we could even ask for. You know, I understand. I appreciate both of y'all's opinion on the age difference. I, you know, to me, if somebody's got a CDL license, they've been tested by the state and they've gone through the courses, I think, you know, that probably speaks volumes to something. But anyway, thanks for the update. Um, second thing is and and and this kind of goes back to the other discussion about testing and everything. And this is, you know, my knowledge of it's going on what 45 years now. Remember my my mother always worried about that. And then, you know, in my lifetime, you hear about test scores and all that,
088but I think what I'm what I'm getting around to saying is bring to everybody's attention. Probably it es and flows depending on who's uh at the capital. And you know, not casting stones about any political party or any governor or anybody like that, but I hope people consider, we're going into a governor's race next year and I hope people consider um candidates that support public education because that's, you know, that's what it's all about. I I can remember one of our good Democratic leaders here years ago and highways named after him, John Bragg, and he always the civic organizations I was in, Farm Bureau, he would always say this, education plus roads equals jobs. It's a real simple equation. And so we're in the business of educating and and so I think the purpose of
089what I'm bringing this up is for everybody to consider the candidates that do run next year for governor that they are going to be a friend to public education that they are going to continue to give us choices. You know, I think people do need choice, but we do need support of public education and maybe not change so much. Listen to teachers. Uh, education needs to be a bottom up business, not a top down. That would be my two cents. So, anyway, just want to get that off my chest. >> Thank you, Mr. T. >> Uh, I just want to say that this Sunday, as J has mentioned, Oakland High School will be have the ribbon cutting for the annex. Uh, we're excited to see this be the completion of kind of the three annex
090as well. We have one coming up Lever later on. Uh but uh this this work when we voted those through. I'm excited about it. I hope the community comes out and comes and see what this looks like and see what your tax dollars being put to use looks like and the good use that it's doing in our community. So I just wanted to put that out there as well. >> I got a sneak peek this morning. It looks beautiful at this very very proud what it looks like. If there's no more move to we're adjourned.