001with the Rutherford County School System first up we have the Pledge of Allegiance led by Miss Tammy sharp alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please bow your heads for a moment of silence thank you first up we have the approval of the agenda any questions or comments I'll entertain a motion move to approve second thank you thank you Mr vaugh I think he beat you in Miss starby all in favor say I I I any opposed motion passes next we have approval of the consent agenda any questions or comments I'll entertain a motion move to approve thank you m Tammy M sharp thank you Mr Bon all in favor say I I
002any opposed motion passes we have a gentleman coming from tsba mid Cumberland District the director Steve Haley of the Dixon County Board of Education to present the board of Distinction award thank you sir thank you madam here members of the board I'm Steve Haley I'm with the teny School Board Association the mid Cumberland District director and um glad to be here thank you for letting me come it's my privilege to be here to present you with the tsba board of Distinction award this award is one of tsba most prestigious Awards I commend your board for meeting the requirements in the four key areas of planning policy promotion and board development and as you know these requirements are extensive and not every board qualifies as a board of Distinction however this board is among the select
003few on behalf of the Tennessee school boards Association I'm proud to present the board of Distinction award to the ruford County Board of Education [Applause] m on thank you [Applause] next up we have ruford proud I don't think Ashley's here yet is she Ashley here yet we'll give it just we'll come back okay we'll come back to her next we have public comments we have five individuals who have chosen to speak tonight first up we have Mr Bill LaVine yes thank you board member for allowing me an opportunity to speak tonight I have taught English language and literature on a college level for over 40 years and my main point to drive home tonight is that I'm rather disturbed by what I think are hair Trigger or knee-jerk responses to limiting access to a large
004number of school library books in what I've observed in three or four board meetings I'm very pleased that the board several weeks ago uh gave due acknowledgement to the agricultural groups in our school district and I hope I live long enough to see the day when intellectual achievements gain the same amount of attention and prominence in being recognized as athletic achievements but that day may never come in any case I want to say that um sometimes studying the humanities is put in second or third place the stem subjects but really if um you think about what teaching of English is supposed to entail it would be not just reading and writing skills but basic empathy understanding of other cultures uh bring people out of their Silo and approaching differences and knowing how to navigate controversial
005matters as well so I see the teaching of English even starting say in the third year of high school as leading students if it's properly taught to in a path towards greater intellectual and emotional maturity now I know there will always be beavon Butthead type students who laugh at Shakespeare's dirty puns it's a difficult path but I think keeping these books in school libraries among a caring and high professional staff is the best way of assuring that kind of navigation towards mature approaches to these subjects that seem to be so sensitive uh to our board and allowing students to be better prepared for college so that they can open up to a larger world than where they have come from so I will say what's keeping me in this business for over four decades is
006that I think a large mass of students have a natural instinct for seeing when the adult community is not being honest with them when they're being infantilized condescended to when their voices and curiosity is suppressed and we know a certain number of those students will go underground and find these books anyway but I think that the students who are allowed to explore their areas of curiosity under proper guidance and I certainly believe that exposure to work should be age appropriate thank you thank you sir next we have Miss Judy whill my name is Judy whill uh we all know the importance of hearing information more than once when I spoke before I asked board members to please accept the RCs media specialist recommendations for the books you ask them to read this evening my message
007is the same it has been shown that people need to hear something at least seven times before it becomes meaningful teachers understand the power of repetition and use it as one element of their many teaching strategies please accept the RCs media specialist recommendations for the books you ask them to read everyone has a preferred learning style and since many Learners prefer visual aids I made a sign that says please accept the RCs media specialist recommendations for the books you asked them to read and of course there are so many different fonts so I thought I would make one that shows different fonts and it says please accept the RCs media specialist recommendations for the books you ask them to read a variety of color also helps to capture one's attention so here are a couple
008of signs that say please accept the RCs recommendations from the media specialist on the books you asked them to read my son is a graduate of Riverdale High School in MTSU and he's a lieutenant colonel in Air Force and he's currently serving our country in Europe and so the only way to really get to talk with my granddaughters is through FaceTime now my 7-year-old granddaughter and I were FaceTiming and she told me she was doing an oral book report at school and she said that she was nervous about speaking in front of her classmates I assured her she would be fine if she read and understood the book and told her that she was simply sharing what she had read with her classmates I even said that hearing her book report might make some of
009them want to read that book and I mentioned to her that I would be speaking to a group this week and she wanted to know what I would be talking about I explained that some folks wanted to remove certain books from the library because they didn't like things about the books and didn't want their children to be able to check out those books she immediately said Mimi I don't understand why don't those parents just tell their kids not to check out those books it isn't fair to take books away from everyone there seems to be a lot of wisdom in that approach please accept the RCs media specialist recommendations for the books you ask them to read and I will conclude for the seventh time please accept the RCs media specialist thoughtful and professional recommendations
010for the books you ask them to read thank you thank you next up we have Mr Joshua Walker good evening when I was about 10 or 11 years old my parents had all of us watched the 1977 miniseries Roots rone not familiar with roots it's the fictionalized story of a family's journey through slavery and Jim Crow it has seen the violence murder torture and rape you could argue that I was too young to have been allowed to watch it much like being argued with the books being brought before the board but that argument would be incorrect that show taught me the horrors of slavery and the evil of racism it taught me to empathize with experiences I wouldn't never and could never have and these are lessons I carry with me today lessons that have
011been been foundational in my growth as a person and the development of my values it was a lot for my mind at that age I'll admit but I wouldn't trade any discomfort I experienced then for what I gained even now 30 years later I don't remember much about the show but I'll never forget the lessons it taught me so let's have faith in our children they're not stupid um I have four children two have graduated from Rood County Schools two that are still in them um and our middle and high schoolers especially have the right to learn about the experiences of others even when those experiences make us uncomfortable I didn't develop a desire to enslave others from Roots or to torture or sexually assault people on the contrary empathizing with the horrific experiences so
012many millions of black Americans went through gave me a deep hatred of racism and bigotry there are later Les life lessons I wouldn't have learned had it not been for those early ones stories help us empathize they help us develop compassion for the experiences of people we may never encounter in our day-to-day lives experiences we personally may never have may never be able to have stories teach us lessons and help us become better people they help us see the world through other people's eyes so let's not deny that opportunity to our children let's show them the realities of our past and the horrible things people can do even the things that make us uncomfortable let's allow them to experience empathy and compassion so they can become even better people than we are so that through
013them as em Jr said the Arc of the moral Universe can continue to bend towards Justice thank you thank you next we have Miss Heather cook hello hello um thank you all for allowing me again to to uh share what I have on my heart uh with you and with everyone watching and listening um and thank you for all the positive things that you've done and are continuing to do to enrich the lives of the children in the Rutherford County School System in preparation for their future in this exponentially everchanging World Only God knows what that future will hold but no matter what that future may hold or what they may face if we will teach them to love God in his word in this book they can have a peace in the midst of
014any storm knowing that he's in control control and that they have the ultimate hope of heaven we are binded on a daily basis in the news and in our own personal stories of the instability of this world and the fact that none of us have the promise of tomorrow that isn't said to scare you I want you to be prepared and to teach your children to be prepared as well the Bible tells us the most important decision that we will ever make and to teach our children to make is to ask Jesus Christ into your life to be your lord and savior if we'll teach our children to love God in his word they will choose God's best for their lives and not want to do anything displeasing to him they need to know that
015the omnipotent all powerful omniscient all- knowing omnipresent everywhere creator of the universe and all things loves them and wants to be their heavenly father they need to know that he created two genders male and female he doesn't make mistakes they were born exactly who they who he created them to be eliminate the delusion confusion and mutilation we have to teach them the truth so they can recognize the lies in the same way someone is trained to recognize a counterfeit by studying every detail of the authentic we need to we need we and our children need to study the word of God to know him intimately to know his character what he says what he does we need to know the truth to recognize the LIE God created us with the Free Will so it is
016our choice but he tells us in his word he wants us to choose eternal life with him this brief time on Earth is like an open book test and all of the answers are in this book this is the book we and our children need to read the only book with eternal value thank you and God bless you thank you our last speaker is Miss Elizabeth Shepard thank you for the opportunity to speak to you tonight I'm here as a Blackman High School parent and also a school librarian when I was in elementary school my favorite place was the library I'm sure I drove my kindergarten teacher missed absolutely up the wall asking to go to the library every single day my elementary librarian Miss Cornell was the epitome of a classic librarian she had
017these glasses and a sparkly chained she'd perch on the end of her nose as she read barenstein Bear's books to us from her big wooden rocking chair one day I remember thinking one day when I'm old I'm going to be just like her what I didn't imagine all those years ago was that I'd be here speaking in front of you as I often do or that yesterday I'd travel to Nashville for a library legislative day to sit down with senators and congressmen and advocate for libraries and Librarians and books my 5-year-old self didn't have a clue the fight that was in her future my 40-some yearold self often wonders why we're even fighting to begin with see to me it seems obvious why books are essential why a library staffed by certified Librarians should be
018the heart of every school why students should be exposed to a variety of ideas and perspectives it's what the fresh-faced 5-year-olds that I teach right now need to help them grow to be the best human beings that they can be this week is read Across America week and I've been sharing books with my students that represent what our country is supposed to be all about according to the preamble to the Constitution we the people are called to be just peaceful good and free I want my students to know what those words mean and what that looks like in America because I'm thankful for the justice and the peace and the goodness and the freedom that comes from living here and I want them to feel that as well all of them regardless of where they
019come from or what they look like or what language they speak after my visit to the capital yesterday I was made aware of an unfortunate legislative update how does it feel to know that your rescinded ESL resolution from just a few weeks ago was quoted not once but twice during a presentation in favor of a bill to to deny education to undocumented students the Senate education committee used your words to defend denying children the right to an education and they worked the bill passed out of committee with a vote of 5 to four I found myself angry frustrated and frankly embarrassed for our school system to be associated with such a hateful and discriminatory Bill students right here in retherford County represent over a hundred different countries of origin to insinuate that even a single
020one of them might not be good enough to have the opportunity to education is reprehensible your words matter they are lasting and meaningful and make a difference but this time they weren't used for good do better our students deserve it next we have Rutherford proud all right moving excuse me back up to Rutherford proud give me just a second we have Stewart's Creek High School senior wrestler Ashley Williams she um recently won a girl state championship wrestling and so the tournament took place at the Williams County a Exposition Arena February 21st through 22nd and so coaches coach Harris Dr Harold who wants to all right Mr Harris we have a video too we're going to play her that's about a minute and a half just to you're going to see her great personality in this
021video she looks terrified [Music] my name is Ashley Williams and I'm a senior at Stewart's Creek High School I was walking down the hall one day and I looked up on the wall and there was a poster and it was like girls wrestling interest meeting free pizza and I went for the pizza I didn't have anything else to do so I went I sat down the previous coach he was talking I was like hm I might as well try it and then I went to one of the open mats and I was like I kind of like it but I originally went just for the pizza Ashley's a a great young lady um I guess that's probably more what I'm proud about than state championship she worked extremely hard um to get where she is
022always saw the potential you know she's the first Stewart streak um Champion state champion girls guys uh and just being out there that night it was amazing exciting um just really happy for her Ashley just brings such a joy to the sport and she's so methodical about everything and always is asking how to get better and what can she do and we'll want to work through things over and over um it's just been fun to watch her grow not only as a wrestler but as a young adult even though it is like a very male do dominated Sport and it's becoming a more girl dominated sport to always try new things um put yourself out there if you're a girl and you're interested in wrestling don't worry about what other people say no matter how
023much they might put you down being like oh you won't be able to handle it oh this is this is for the guys this this and this you can do it trust me anybody can do it cuz who would have thought that I would have done it anybody can do it Dr Sullivan and School Board it's a privilege as the athletic director of Stewart Creek High School uh all of our athletes but today we're going to honor an exceptional one in so many different ways but before we do that I I want to introduce you our two coaches and uh so if coach mechas and Coach Thomas would come up here and join me coach mechas is a steuarts Creek High School grad who wrestled at Stewart Creek and is now in uh was in
024the Army for several years and he is in one of the Rutherford County teacher training programs he's in CTE teaches culinary arts and Coach Thomas is our math department chair and so I'm going to turn this over to them they're going to have the privilege of introducing y'all to Ashley Williams I'd like to start by saying thank you to Dr Sullivan and the board for recognizing this great athlete um in her amazing accomplishment she is not only Stewart Creek's first ever state champ um for either guys or girls but she is also the Rutherford County first ever state champ for girls um this could not have been done without her work hard work that she puts in each and every day um not only on the mat but I was also outside of the mat
025um she has been she is a start major for Rutherford County uh for the JC program um and she also um leads in her place of work in Chick-fil-A um and in addition to that she is a leader inside the wrestling room and I could not be more proud of her accomplishment and to have her as a part of this team stand up here stand up here just stand just stand thank very proud of you I do want you to know that when something is said and somebody out there in the audience thinks that they have some information I have to give it out actually there was a lady so you have tied there was a girl montaria Bigsby at Riverdale High School who also won a state championship trust me they're going to let
026me know when they when they schools like to so but you were great great company and so proud of you so proud of you [Applause] next we have financial matters financial matters so fund 177 fund balance and expenditure approval this amendment moves funds from account 34685 committed for capital projects to account 91300 335 maintenance and repair services buildings in the amount of 1 m635 468 this movement of money from fund balance will go to fund the additional in increase of $84,200 V thank you Miss Rosales all in favor say I I I any opposed next we have human resources number one advantage XO renewal agreement reord County Schools currently contracts with Advantage XO for substitute teacher Services Advantage XO will maintain their current contract and the bill rate will increase by 28 cents per substitute
027daily obtained this increas is due to an increase in the smart find software profile rates and you have the recommended motion to approve the renewal any questions comments move to approve thank you Mr thank you m um was it sharp or Derby okay okay Miss sharp all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes number two contract renewal with MTSU athletic training education program to place graduate students at Rutherford County schools with Rutherford County Schools Athletic trainers to gain clinical experience and the recommended motion is to approve as presented any comments questions I'll entertain a motion thank you Mr B second thank you m Arby all in favor say I I I any opposed motion passes next we have number three legal so we have Tab four and this just completes our annual policy
028review we do have a um upcoming policy meeting in April this is just our annual policy review of section two okay next we have number 12 engineering and construction we have several first we have lever High School CTE Barn request the CTE Department's requesting to purchase in place a 10 x6t portable Barn Building for use by the CTE programs the cost for this structure will not exceed 10,000 will be funded through the CTE Department engineering construction has reviewed the request and has no objections you have a recommended motion to approve L ver High School Barn project as presented I'll entertain a motion move to approve thank you Miss second thank you Miss Derby all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes number two this is a painting project the school Nutrition department has
029been reviewing options to upgrade the appearance of the cafeteria serving line at Cedar Grove Elementary the cost for this project is $447 2925 and will come from the fund balance of 143 and will not require additional funds the engineering and construction department has reviewed the request and has no objection any other the recommended motion to approve approve thank you Miss sharp thank you Mr vau all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes all right next we have Rockville High baseball and softball metal building request principal Steve ler is requesting to allow the baseball softball team to build a 30X 70ft metal building for use as a batting facility for baseball and softball the cost of the structure is $18,750 and will be fueled by The Joint fueled funded by The Joint booster clubs
030this request is at no cost of the board engineering construction has reviewed the request and has no objection and the recommended motion is to approve I'll entertain a motion move to approve thank you m Arby thank you Mr vau all in favor say I I'm sorry I'm sorry Mr bot just got a small question right here will this have to go through review with City it will not but because it's an because we are not in the city limits of murburg it will have to go through the to the county for their standard permit process the county will handle yes get caught up in the city no sir thank you because it's just the roadway that's in the city limits not the actual that is correct it has been it has been a practice because
031the the sewer was furnished that was the reason I was asking that question but it's just good that would not good thank you who made the or original motion by by by Mr T okay all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes next we have number four seagull middle baseball field name request principal Kim Stoker's requesting to name the baseball field after former coach Mike Tobit coach Tobit was the first baseball coach at Seagull middle and spent countless hour starting the program and getting it to where it is today engineering construction reviewed the request and has no objection any questions well thank you Mr vau second thank you Mr vau all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes next we have number five Blackman Middle fence this is a Blackman Middle
032fence request principal Dr Jessica Jackson's requesting to replace the fence at a cost of $8,000 the cost for this replacement will be from the baseball softball and football accounts as well as 1,000 from the school's General athletic fund engineering construction reviewed the request and has no objection any questions move to approve thank you Mr Rosales thank you Mr vaugh all in favor say I I I any opposed motion passes number six Browns Chapel Elementary Eagle Scout sun shade project principal Christina peny is requesting to partner with eagle scout Skyler Grove on a project to install a sun shade on the walking Track of the school the cost for this project will be doned by the Eagle Scout and at no cost of the board currently the drawings and the structure connectors have not been provided
033to engineering engineering has reviewed the project and has no objection to the location and intended use however due to potential wind loads engineering requesting additional support documentation prior to final authorization engineering supporting the request provided they receive additional information recommend the motion to approve the Browns Chapel Eagle Scout move to approve second than it's her it's her school let her oh no go ahead she only she okay we got it we got it it's good all in favor say I I I any opposed otion passes next Stewart's Creek Stewart's Creek High School football facility request principal Dr Clark Harold is requesting to begin the process of raising funds for building a football Fieldhouse the anticipated cost at this time is 2.5 million million and will be funded through donations and fundraising this includes paying for
034architect design plans this request is at no cost to the board engineer construction has reviewed the location and there are Utilities in the general location approval from the local authorities will need to be granted before moving forward engineer construction can assist in this process pending utility approvals engineering has no objection to their request the recommended motion is to approve steuarts Creek High School football facility as presented any questions I'll entertain a motion move to approve thank you Miss Derby second thank you Mr Tidwell all in favor say I I I any opposed motion passes now we're back to number 13 which is book reviews and everyone has the stapled copies of the recommendations for all the books I'd like to make a motion that we uh put all the assassination question volumes all together and
035I to recommend to remove second okay all in favor say I I I any opposed no no but motion passes 2 through 10 okay first one Catch 22 the recommendation is to retain in 11th and 12th grades it has been used in uh AP for many years move to uh move I move to uh use the recommendation of the Laing to retain 10 11th and 12th grades with parent optin since it's something that's used with the AP I will second that can we do a roll call vote Please Mr VA yes Mr vaugh no Mrs Derby no Miss sharp no Mr Tidwell say I I couldn't find the content for this book so um you can just vote present I'm sorry I'm voting present neither Mrs Rosales yes Mrs Maxwell yes you've got three NOS
036plus a present which is a no so the four it's removed Miss Maxwell yes I don't is Jeff Reed here okay so here's where the sticky situation comes in with this book this book um cash 22 is has been recommended and approved by the standard even though we have removed it or technically this book is still going allowed to be used in classrooms correct correct right so I don't understand why we're removing a book that is still going to be used in a classroom even though we removed it like a teacher still has the ability to use this book and assign it for a classroom for for an assignment so that kind of does not go hand in hand with what the law says at this point we're talking about what books are available in
037the library so that's a different issue than what is available in the classroom and that's the way the statutes are written I understand the that does seem odd but that's the way the law is written and the parent at the at the time still has the option to not use this book they can give the child a different assignment in the AP class in the AP classes corre yes and they got the option to find a different book too corre right but it still doesn't change the fact that it can still be assign assigned as a CL as a assignment Miss Darby had her hand up too Dr Selvin correct me if I'm wrong but when we've spoken about the AP classes before and I know we've had some parents have some challenges with some
038of those classes is the general understanding not that it's a college level course so sometimes it it's outside of the typical AP would be different that would be your dual enrollment dual enrollment okay y not the same other question can I can I ask for a bit of clarification as well does I just want to make sure I'm understanding correctly that books that are used on our AP exams and in the the AP standards can be in our classrooms okay okay since we've already uh voted or did we vote will it be possible to resend I mean they're still going to use this book even if we take the book out it does not take the ability to remove the book the teachers are still going to sign this book it's better to have parental
039consent with 11th and 12th grade at least there's some guidance there go ahead by the board's vote you voted to remove it from libraries and classroom libraries if it is part of a textbook adoption it can still be used right so technically it doesn't remove it it'd be removed from a library in a teacher's classroom library right but it still does not get removed in the sense that a teacher can still assign it as a classroom assignment if it's part of a textbook right exactly yes Mr tidal oh no I was pointing okay sorry no okay any more questions okay well then since we've already taken away the assassination classroom let's go to Perfect Chemistry and the recommendation is to retain in high school and I don't believe it had it didn't have any obscenity
040or anything I would entertain a motion okay I'll make a motion that we retain Perfect Chemistry in high school second please roll call all right Miss sharp Mr Vault yes Mrs Rosales yes Mr vaugh no Mr Tidwell no Mrs Derby no Mrs Maxwell yes remove next we have water for elephants and the recommendation was to remove I make a motion to remove thank you Mr Sidwell thank you Mr vaugh roll call I understand Mrs Derby this is to remove correct yes yes Mrs Rosales yes Mr VA yes Mr vaugh yes Mr Tidwell yes Miss sharp Mrs Maxwell yes unanimous to remove okay that may be the first right first time we all I actually think there's been a few that we've actually been you Manus on U number 13 our last book is yoke and
041the recommendation is again to retain in high school so move I'll second it Mr VA yes Mr vaugh no Mrs dar no Miss sharp Mr Tidwell no Mrs Rosales yes Mrs Maxwell yes no it's to remove okay okay number 14 we have the uh financial report we had our financial report at the work session if there weren't any other questions we should have our we have an initial Tissa um estimate from February that we can go over in the next couple weeks and then our next one we should get towards the end of March that we'll go in ril that'll help set kind of what our budget portion looks like okay um the hold harmless portion for economic disadvantage that we discussed a couple weeks ago that is part of the governor's proposal um is
042a a big help for us as a district so I'm hope hoping that that gets legislative support and continues right now it is part of our Tissa estimate so that was several extra million dollars so I'm hoping that that gets legislative support and stays there um so we'll continue to go over and look at our our TSA numbers we are still continuing to grow and so that was it had slowed a little bit the first semester the second semester we are growing so we have seen that Trend continue over the second semester like it has the last couple years do you have anything else in director's up director's update we mentioned it Tuesday and we put it in a media release yesterday again congratulations to James Evans who was our um Communications Chief Communications our
043Communicator of the year for um Public Schools or for school Communicator of the year I butchered that I'm sorry James I went all with all kinds of titles I wanted to that's why you're the communication person not me so yes Miss sharp Dr Sullivan do you have a an approximate number of enrollment um yes give me just a second tell you what we're being estimated to be funded on give me just a second I'm sure everyone saw that article in the da News Journal about the new subdivision in Rockville homes right where right where we wanted it just to give you a perspective so for what we were funded on last year and this is just kindergarten through 12 so when we talk about our enrollment we always include prek kindergarten through 12 for Tissa
044we were funded on 50,7 51 in October we were at 50890 and then February we were at 51,5 A6 so pretty big jump from October to February yep are we still seeing daily enrollment like on the North End mostly on the North End yes we are but it is it's still growing it did not drop so it did not drop at all m okay Mr VA do you have anything nothing other than than what is in the news right now no man okay thank you next we have General discussion would anybody like to bring anything Mr T I was just going to say uh obviously we all got the invitation to Central magnet softball season opener tomorrow night which is awesome um I won't be able to make it my daughter has a choir concert
045at Barfield at the same time but I would like to thank the board the director along with the County Parks and wreck uh for working together so that all this could be possible I know they're very excited about this and if we hadn't come up with some kind of solution it wouldn't be happening so that's a that's a win for everybody absolutely I got a JV game at 4:30 in the far six okay make it that uh unfortunately I won't be able to attend either I'll be hopping on a plane tomorrow to go to Dallas to see my son so I will not make it but I know it's going to be beautiful and I don't live too far from there so I may mosy on down there and take a look at it so
046um anything else you like to Maxwell yes M um I'm going to try to make to two events tomorrow but I'm not so sure if I'm be able to attend to the baseball game because there's something happening at one of our schools there um opening up a community um event that they're going to have different vendors out there and they're gonna have food trucks and all that good jazz over at black man Elementary School um but this week has been read Across America it's one of my favorite um times of the entire school year because you get invited to go to different schools and actually read to classes so I had the privilege to read at my daughter's class at the um at uh Brown's chapel and then I was a read at other couple
047store schools as well and I absolutely love it there's some teachers that dress up some Librarians dress up for the part and um it's just a really fun time to read to to the kids and get into a characters a little bit and seeing their enthusiasm and some schools do it differently where they have character days where you can actually dress up and one of the character days of this week was be a hero and I asked my my daughter who she wanted to be and she said she wanted to be Wonder Woman so I I made her outfit and she dressed up as Wonder Woman so I just wanted to highlight that because it's just one of my favorite day times of the school year and it happens twice a year twice two times
048in the academic year one in the fall and then one in the springtime so B easy to read too yeah they're very easy I want to tell everybody that I want to remind you that we have our Retreat next week March 13th and 14th we'll try not to keep you too long on Friday and it's going to be a Evans Mill and Smithville yes Mr B you have something I have that look on my face do that I wanted to say yes you did I I I could anticipate two two or three things one everybody's making announcements tomorrow is Arbor Day so go plant a tree if you can and even better maybe plant a tree on your local school which leads me into the another statement I was going to make um Mr V
049and I had the opportunity today to visit Browns Chapel in Cedar Grove Elementary we're on our task to uh visit all 52 schools before the years old with I don't know if we're going to make it Dr so we're trying awful hard to get um I want to you phenomenal staff both schools great people um I would encourage any of y'all in the audience and those listening at home our schools but says this all the time we got to School said we really do but what I would encourage each one of you to do if you even if you don't have kids in the system if if you would call your local principal reach out to them these people do a fantastic job but if if you did nothing more than encourage them if you
050could volunteer if you could donate to to them or help them create or or Elevate task or whatever the our staff is phenomenal I look at this group around the central office and I honestly take it as a privilege to serve with the other six of you here uh we have some great people in this County it is I'm never disappointed anywhere I go I there's two or three of the schools I knew I was going to be disappointed and I wasn't I was overwhelmed uh the caliber of employees that we have they are they are the best and your kids are in great um they're in great shape shape these people teach them every day they take care of them every day um I you know I know there's you hear about Nationwide we
051hear about the complaints that that this is happening or that's happening you know for us as a county to come together and educate 52,000 kids is is just phenomenal and really this is accolades to you is the the head of it but I never I'm always over welmed I think and but would you know reiterate this also but just I hate to go on and on about it but we we've got some good schools great schools in this anyway oh oh and the final thought was I I apologize to all six of you for being tardy Tuesday night I wasn't planning on a wreck I tried to load one more load of corn I got the corn out of there but I didn't make it here on time so apologize it's it was understandable we
052we knew where you were Dr knew where I was no I think you hit I appreciate that um Mr that's I was on the radio today and that was one of the comments that I had is that how much does the the national and the the Statewide politics impact just education and what I talked about was that for the large majority of Our Community Education is a positive um and that's why we don't hear a lot of noise about it for because at the end of the day parents want their students to be safe and they want their kids to get a good education and if we as a school system are providing that and we do then that's what they they parents want and we that's what we hear and Mr Tidwell mentioned a
053couple weeks ago that we're going to be receiving quite a bit of extra money because we're one of 13 or 14 extra districts that performs really well and when we should actually have a release about that in the next couple weeks to talk about and what you will notice among those districts we're one that does that is not like the others uh the rest are either very affluent or city school systems and so I think that just goes to show what we as a school system what our staff what our board does even though we we do disagree um often I think that it it's it's just the reality that ultimately regardless of the disagreements we all have a vis on what is best for students and our school system and that's ultimately what matters
054is that we are doing what we feel like is best for our kids and our kids and our teachers and our students and our staff are are performing and that's why there's outside of people that don't have a personal connection with our school system the experiences of people that are here every day are positive and so I appreciate Mr bot saying that you know I'd like to say one thing too you know that the C schools of M and rther Candy schools together I mean uh I think I think you go a long ways to find a better school system than what we have in ruford County city and county and our teachers are so dedicated you know they go the extra mile and I think that's what makes the difference between a good teacher
055and a great one and uh you know the you know I think that the more we can support our schools and our school systems and work together instead of being hostile towards each other the better off we are and uh so you know I'm like Mr Vault you know I think that get involved with your schools and support them cuz boy those people they work hard I mean they really do and we've got the best school system anywhere and um if anybody wants to make a comparison just tell them to take a peak you know we got we got the best Sharie you could to have a jazz vest update thank you madam chair um I think one of the things that helped with that was us staying open during Co oh absolutely I really
056think that kept us the learning loss and it was very controversial at the time for us to say open but I think it's it helped with the learning loss slippage but I also think it even though it wasn't normal a normal time I think it kind of kept it somewhat normal for the students and they they were still able to do their routine and everything so I I think that's that's a lot of it because you know when we went to Tampa was it two years ago nohm there were kids from the West Coast that still had not gone back to school it was crazy crazy they had still not gone back to school so um I concur that's one of the proudest things that I was I I still go to airports and when
057someone hears that I'm on the school board they'll I mean even places in Kansas they were shut down for like over two or three years in some places uh and and the fact that we gave our parents and our children the opportunity to come in for a majority of that time and until everybody came back in I'm I'm happy to say that by Christmas pretty much everybody started coming back in and we did not uh have everybody out virtual learning because I had those words still oh virtual learning I never did get used to it and I knew that most of our kids would not thrive in that system so I I concur Miss sharp I'm so glad that was one of the best things we did was we kept them open Miss Maxwell yes
058I just want to say that um not a lot of people know this but he's not here at all um and during that time it was very contentious and I found out later on after I got on the seat board but the chair then was Mr coong and he really did fought to get the to get the schools to open and um and even at the time it was not an easy decision and there were some disagreements that were happening behind the scenes but he really pushed through to try to get the schools to reopen as soon as possible and that he he's a very humble person and I just want to say that be through his leadership that's why we pushed through to try to keep those schools open as soon as possible thank
059you Mr want to share that any other comments move to a journ we're jour