Board of Education Meeting - February 6, 2025

001the February 6 2025 school board meeting for the Rutherford County School System first up we have our Pledge of Allegiance Mr butf Mr James Evans is not here tonight and he said that Mr Barton Henley had been down to come up and lead the pledge so we're going to give him that opportunity thank you bon to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I ask for everyone to please bow their heads for a moment of silence thank you next we have the approval of the agenda do we have any comments or questions thank you Miss sharp all in favor say I I I any opposed motion passes next we have the approval of the consent

002agenda any comments or questions move to approve thank you m thank you Mr vaugh all in favor say I I I any opposed motion passes next we have a speaker tonight from o4m hello hello thank you guys so much for having me my name is Kelsey peralt I am the director of Optimal Health for me it's a program that serves Rutherford County and as of this semester Canon County Schools as well and I just I've spoken to you guys in the fall just a little bit about our program when you uh approved the memor memorandum of understanding and I wanted the chance to just come share a little bit more about what we do and what we provide to you and so I want to go ahead and start start with thank you to our

003incredible it help to my left I want to go ahead and start with a video um and this is something actually Dr Sullivan um and Dr Chastain and Dr Martin and I met some time ago and Dr Sullivan expressed that a video that shares a little bit more about our program for the parents um and the teachers and the administrators might be helpful in explaining a little bit about more what our program provides so I'm going to go ahead and start with that and just kind of give you a brief over and then we'll dive into a little bit more depth okay oops for Rel microphone hi we're Optimal Health for me and we have the opportunity to encourage students to recognize and choose Optimal Health which is a balance of physical mental and social

004well-being the Optimal Health for me program or oh for him for short takes a holistic approach to Relationships by encouraging healthy selfworth defining healthy and unhealthy relationships and avoiding the physical mental and social risks that come with unhealthy relationships setting goals for the future which can lead to students personal success a study by the National Institute for family studies has shown that if students graduate from high school get a full-time job and stick with it and get married before having kids they increase their chances of living above the poverty line by 97% we're here to encourage wetherford County students toward that goal our program serves 6th 7th 8th grade and high school rest assured we comply completely with state law regarding what can and cannot be discussed in a classroom and all the information presented

005follows the Tennessee Department of education's curriculum standards for middle and high school Wellness classes we understand that this can be a sensitive topic for many and we don't take lightly that you are entrusting us with your children our goal is to to partner with you to prepare your child for the pressures they face facilitate a safe place for them to gain a medically accurate understanding and hopefully Foster conversation at home o4m focuses on five topics first building a foundation of healthy self-worth character development and decision-making including healthy boundaries second identifying qualities of healthy relationships and red flags in unhealthy relationships third the physical risks of unhealthy relationships and the benefits of waiting to engage in sexual activity fourth the influence of social media risks of the internet and the importance of staying safe online and

006five goal setting for the future and how our decisions today affect our future [Music] lives o4m advances an age approach appropriate content with each grade for example focusing on healthy relationships in every area of life including with parents friends and teachers with our sixth graders to diving deeper into healthy romantic relationships with our older grades sixth grade focuses on what happens during the human development stages of puberty and prenatal development while older grades dive deeper into consequences of unhealthy relationships including sexually transmitted infections emotional scars and teen pregnancy old ultimately we want each student to Value him or herself enough to guard their hearts choose healthy relationships know their boundaries and make decisions their future selves will thank them for we hope this information provides you with peace of mind regarding what your child is

007learning in the classroom but if you still have questions we encourage you to reach out to your teacher or the O Forum director they're happy to answer your questions and even give you a chance to review the curriculum yourself it's our hope that every student achiev gives their Optimal Health physically mentally and socially thanks for watching we'll see you in the [Music] classroom that's how you know it's live TV right thank you for that I appreciate your help on that all right I want to pass out really quickly um I believe you may have received these before but um just so that you can follow along with some of the topics that we talk about this will be your guide thank you sorry all of all right so just a little bit more about o4m

008we have actually been a part of Rutherford County schools for 25 years we've started as a program called otia in 1999 um we are sexual risk avoidance certified through a national accrediting program called Ascend um and we do develop our curriculum in Rutherford County Schools we work with medical professionals with our Educators we have really close relationships with a lot of the teachers that we work with um and so we work and even parents to discuss what the curriculum should involve and then of course always with our guiding guiding post being the Tennessee state law and the educational standards um what you have in your folders will be the health and wellness standards that will be um put in place for next year the ones that were just recently approved but but that has the

009Tennessee state law in it um oh I'll get to a little more than that in a second I do want to let you guys know we are a program under the uh organization of portico I know last time I was here I believe there was a question that I was not able to answer for you uh that we are I wasn't I wasn't here to answer it for you not that I couldn't but we are a nonprofit 501c3 organization uh and we provide this service to Rutherford County Schools completely free and we don't use of government funding this is all donor based to do what we do okay so you heard these I'm not going to belabor those but those are kind of our five foundational guide posts that we do we think every student

010is worth knowing their value having healthy relationships and setting goals for their future and our foundational Concepts we are a primary prevention model meaning that in the same way that we would teach students the best way to stay healthy and avoid the negative effects of smoking would be to not start the best way for them and Studies have shown the healthiest they can be for them to avoid the negative effects of teenage sexual uh um initiation would be to go ahead and not engage in sexual activity until um they are married or in a lifelong committed relationship um we also have a focus on holistic health meaning we're not kind of that stereotypic stereotypical sexed program that you may have seen or remembered from 80s and 90s I suppose we're bringing a holistic hey let's

011talk about the physical but also the mental the emotional and the social consequences that come along with your relationships as well and making sure we are healthy all the way around okay we're also focusing on the future and we believe that every student is worth it no matter their experience their background their identities their their socioeconomic status every student deserves to hear a message of health and that's what we're coming from is from a medically based perspective on um healthy relationships so what does that look like for our Middle School we're looking at five middle school lessons we kind of come up come into the classroom into the health and wellness or intro to social health classes and take over five classes 45 minutes long uh we do this four quarters or four times a

012year with those students and our high school depending on the class schedule we work with the teachers on that will either be in four times a year or two times a year depending on their schedules with three 90 minute block lessons and we'll get into the laog just here in a second but just so you know SRA programs um students who go through at sexual risk avoidance education programs um are more likely to delay sexual initiation um more likely to um avoid other risk behaviors including drugs alcohol smoking vaping things of that nature and they are more likely to excel academically these are on a national basis not just rather for County but also rather for County and then just for familiarity again you have copies of the state law in these little packets of

013yours and the um I believe it's in the back left side and then you have the state standards on the back right side um but the state law for uh a sexual risk avoidance education program in the state of Tennessee each county is required to adopt or develop a family life curriculum um the Family Life curriculum is the term that they use in the Tennessee code and that means an abstinence-based education focused on character development human growth decision-making um abstinence contraception and disease prevention so we go over a lot in a very short amount of time um but again this is all kind of age appropriately developed um and laa May utilize a program like ours in teaching a family life curriculum there are some restrictions on an outside organization coming in to teach a

014program like this um again that is in copies of the law and highlighted for you uh to take a look at your leisure but there are some restrictions on who can and can't and we do meet the qualifications and criteria for coming in teaching okay so those are the requirements for the family life curriculum it's a laundry list of things I won't belabor them um but they are things like coming in teaching from a holistic perspective talking about healthy relationships talking about important um things like boundaries and consent and um and making sure that they're thinking future-minded and not just in the present and with their emotions with their hearts but also taking time to analyze their decisions and the choices that they're making that's the provision for 30 days notice as of uh this

015coming year thanks to our coordinated Health JIS stitzel we will be including a form for Parental notice in the registration packet that they receive at the parents receive at the beginning of the school year so that every parent will be on notice that we potentially will be in their classroom there's a process I won't believe that one this section doesn't apply to any sort of biological study in a science class oh dear oh dear okay good um and then there are some additional requirements um that our program there are additional requirements if a if a program is going to provide um education on sexual orientation and gender identity that does require parental and explicit consent um we feel that is kind of outside of our purview we want to focus not necessarily on who someone

016is in relationship with but we want to make sure that students when they are in relationships are being um careful or being protected or being respected or learning those things like loyalty trust commitment and those healthy values so um that is kind of outside our lane um although uh if a question is is specifically asked we will we will tell them that um you know what their learning applies to what we're teaching what we're bringing to the table with relationships is going to apply to relationships of all kinds all right same thing you guys have copies of the standards with highlights I won't belabor those either but just health and wellness for high school middle school and um intro to social health is going to include those aspects of positive relationships what we want to

017encourage them towards how we want to go over the um reproductive systems and make sure they are familiar with their bodies um making sure that they're aware of preventative um methods and negative Health outcomes in unhealthy relationships and things of that nature okay why bring us into your classroom well we are one less thing for them to worry about about since since a lot since we do create the curriculum around the state law and around the state standards we're checking those boxes for those teachers and ensuring that we are complying with those standards so that it's one less thing for the teachers to worry about in the classroom and a lot of the teachers appreciate that we come in and we handle sensitive topics that we come in and the students feel like they can

018ask questions and they don't have to look their basketball coach in the eye the next day after they've talked about puberty and human development and so we provide a safe space for them to come in and bring their questions uh we bring a trusted medical medical accuracy to the table we update our curriculum every year with medical professionals teachers and parents uh input in involved and we update our statistics getting those from the CDC Tennessee Department of Health and so on and we're preferred by students these are just some of the comments that we've received about our program just within the last year um one of my favorites is I like how you taught me that I'm not an object and I can be more than the body parts that I have I get to

019make that choice on my own and not on someone else's terms and so we're teaching them to have control um over themselves and to make positive and healthy decisions for themselves and the statistics also speak for themselves 81% of our middle schoolers last year expressed an interest in staying abstinent After High till after high school 72% of the high schoolers that we saw and then the teen pregnancy rate in Rutherford County has dropped year overy year I'm happy to report that last year we saw over 3700 of rord County students and this year we are on track to see over 5,000 students um we are in we were last year in 16 schools and this year we are on track to be in 20 schools including every every High School in some capacity with the

020with the exception of Eagleville so we're almost in all the high schools in the county there you go okay so I want to make sure that what I want for you guys is to for you to know what is being taught in the classroom especially with a subject as sensitive as this I get questions asked from parents every year and I never want to hide the ball from them I always want them to be informed about what their students are learning and so I'll sit down with them and lay it out for them um so for parents who do have questions we like to share with them that we have been in Rutherford County schools for 25 years um including 20 schools in this year and we have year-over-year had parents come and comment and

021students come in comment about how much they've learned in the classroom but also that it spurred conversation with parents and I think that's the ultimate goal is we want to provide a place for parents and students to have conversation um not just you know students learning things in the classroom and then not going home and talking about it we want to make sure that they're they're talking with Mom and Dad as best they can we now have these wonderful videos as suggested by Dr Sullivan if you can go you can go on our website o.org and you can see not only that video introductory video but they're also some FAQ videos breaking down what's exactly being taught in sixth grade what exactly is being taught in 7th 8th nth grade and so on um as

022well as some FAQs about you know where are we getting our information you know are we teaching from an ethical perspective or from a medical perspective which by the way we're teaching from a medical perspective um so we're not there to push ethical values on them we just want to make sure that from a healthy perspective they're being able to make the best decisions for their health we are always of course happy to set up a meeting and talk anytime with our parents my information um is on the notification forms that go home as well as on Jenna's um coordinated health school page as well as um any permission forms that go home as well my information's on there and we're always happy to sit down and talk with parents about what's in the curriculum

023and answer their questions and finally if parents are still concerned which again I have been teach I've been director of this program now for two years um and every interaction I've had with a parent I've had not had a single one after I've talked to them um that has opted their child out but if for whatever reason that their parents or feel that this program is not for their children and for their students then they do have that opt out option that they're free to opt their child out without penalty all right I know you guys have a busy night ahead of you so I won't take up any more of your time you have all of that information in front of you including my contact information if you have any questions I'm happy to

024take them um or if not thank you so much for your time thank you yes Mr uh I would just like to say a couple things about this program um it's very transparent if anybody has any questions about anything they will meet with you they will go through the curriculum with you obviously I'm kind of known for going through things methodically and I've went through a lot of the slides been presented it's on their website like it's it's very transparent it it's following what's required by the law and also uh its connection with Portico obviously has even a greater reward so uh I certainly appreciate this being the option that we have and I would fully support this and I would ask anybody that has any question about it please meet Kelsey or anyone from

025her group um or go sit in on a class if that be an option and listen it's it is very good so I appreciate that thank you and one thing I forgot to say too is all of my I am on staff at Portico but all of the people that teach in the classroom are doing this as volunteers meaning they have either have students in the school system or they're retired and wanted look are looking for ways to give back they go through a several week multi-week training um um they sit in the classroom and observe for a semester at least and they one of my volunteers is actually here tonight in this room over there um but they do this just because they love these students and they're so they're not getting paid to

026do it they're doing it at the good goodness of their heart and that's one of my favorite Parts the program Mr BAU he to I'd like to say um if you're not aware Portico does a phenomenal job here rodford County and Canon County and I'm like U Mr tidle I support this program because what it's really really needed for their kids today this Alis yes thank you so call me oldfashioned that's okay uh but it's having teenagers and now they're adult and having young one is just really nice to have a curriculum that emphasizes and teaches about abstinence so I want to thank you for doing that and and in in in conjunction with doing save uh you know but thank you I just want to point that out thank you thank you yes Mr

027Dr svin I just want to thank you because the videos were something that I know was extra work but in in writing says one thing but being able to present it in just in the personal mode is a lot easier for everyone just to see tone and message and everything also appreciate you guys my wife pretty much handles that ashers animals thing so I appreciate PCO being involved in we loved having those this year at PCO that was amazing I let her handle all of that so I appreciate her and you guys partnering with her for you did a good job on the video thank you anyone else down there okay thank you ma'am thank you much thank [Applause] you next we have Rutherford proud and it's recognizing National School counseling week 2025 yeah so

028it is just I have our two School counseling um supervisors recognizing National School counseling week 2025 um I think we have multiple school counselors here this week so if you guys wouldn't mind standing uh we appreciate all that you do there sometimes gets a misconstrued message that school counselors are Mental Health Counselors and that cannot be further from the truth mental count Mental Health Counselors have a completely different degree and completely different mental Health Tennessee codee annotated and school counselors are working on academic performance um and just what our academic needs and needs of our students that come to us each and every day so we appreciate and support everything that you guys do these people probably the most underpaid people in school business you can't run a school without them that is 100% the

029truth absolutely uh before we go to public comment I have a little something I would like to say before public comment begins I feel I must address something and that is the hurt that our Librarians feel from hearing defamatory comments from several of our speakers our Librarians feel personally attacked and I'm here to support them and the tremendous job they do on a daily basis there is no demonic agenda on behalf of any of our library staff we're not responsible for what goes on in other parts of the country we can't control what goes on in schools in New York Chicago or California in Rutherford County there are no drag show story times or satanic after school programs you and the rest of our citizens know that I believe that Rutherford County is a wonderful

030place to live and raise children our schools are excellent and our teachers and staff care deeply about the students in their care we are growing because of the excellent school system and the high marks we have received when coming to speak before the board I would appreciate for speakers to keep their remarks to All Things local please refrain from personal attacks and defaming our Librarians or any of our staff they have been nothing but professionals and have worked to meet meet whatever goal we have put before them our community is better because of their care and expertise they have listened to this board and moved mountains to comply with our request in a short amount of time board protocol I.E policy prohibits me from keeping someone from speaking unless they use vulgarity or personally defla

031defame our staff I ask you all to think very carefully about the words you use regarding our staff as an elected official off I expect to be personally attacked for My Views and the votes I cast however our staff aren't elected and are simply doing their job and they deserve our respect going [Applause] forward thank you please first up we have Heather cook [Music] I would like to begin by saying I thank God and thank you for everything that you have done and will continue to do to protect the children entrusted to your care I also would like to briefly address the response made to my previous comment regarding the blatant display of evil and the spiritual battle for The Souls of our children throughout this country I know that some of the things mentioned

032are not currently happening in this County and I thank God for that but they are happening in our state and I don't believe it to be prudent to wait until it is here to talk about what is happening in the not too distant past we didn't have these books that we are now discussing yet here we are today I would also like to bring to your attention that in addition to these sexually immoral books there are also blat ly demonic books in Rutherford County Libraries right now one book brought to my attention recently is titled possess me for fourth graders the cover self-explanatory is a picture of an apparently demon-possessed child with the caption there is nowhere to hide when the dead are inside the further we move from Biblical values the darker this world

033becomes so I am here to Simply shine a light into that Darkness not to attack anyone personally I thank God for the opportunity to be an ambassador for his kingdom and I pray that the Holy Spirit does what only he can do in Jesus name amen we are his ambassadors called to overcome evil with good here to stand for the children to teach them as we should the Bible has all the answers to hopelessness pain and addiction the bestselling book of all time in it is non-fiction if we will teach the children about Jesus his truth will set them free his light will overcome any darkness and they can defeat their enemy Satan comes to steal kill and destroy their love their joy and their peace but knowing the greater one lives in them gives

034a sweet release a release from fear and rejection God gives courage and hope his word teaches them how in this life to cope casting their cares on him he the author of their story he's the one that gave them life and he will grow them from glory to glory as they seek his kingdom and his righteousness in everything praising him he will work it for their best this life is like a grain of sand on the shore of Eternity nothing they face right now compares to the best that's yet to be the ultimate Hope Of Heaven is what will see them through they will learn what we teach it's up to me and you thank you bless you [Applause] next we have Miss Judy Beasley [Applause] whiteall Judy Beasley White Hall Sor that's okay my

035name is Judy White Hill and I've been a resident of Rutherford County mpur since 1966 I've attended many of the RCs board meetings and I've heard board members praise the ruford County Librarians and media Specialists and ask these same professionals to spend hours after school reading books only then to question the thoughtful recommendations that have been submitted by these same professionals the last 12 years of my 32 years in education was serving as an elementary school library and media specialist the school system had policies that dealt with parent concerns about Library materials parents have always had the opportunity to ask their students not to use or check out materials that they found objectionable that policy worked and it did not infringe on other students in the school in fact for decades the state of Tennessee

036has had rules and procedures for selecting age appropriate books and media resources that support classroom curriculum media Specialists are required to take courses on the procedure of purchasing books and materials that supplement and support grade level curriculum and they take this responsibility seriously media Specialists follow these guidelines when making purchases for their Media Center independent reading is a skill we want to teach but the love of reading is a habit we need to Foster in a world where we're surrounded by technology the ability for a student to select a book and become immersed in the story should be something we celebrate a word word or paragraph in isolation doesn't take the context of the entire book into account the definition for context is the circumstances that form that setting for a statement of ideas and

037in terms of which it can be fully understood while considering certain books some board members have stated that they had read the book and that it had helped with some issues that their children had experienced the book had helped them as a parent understand their child's feelings and circumstances and it made that child want to read the book and I'm thrilled to know that they found solace in that book what I fail to understand is why a board of education would remove any book that would also help other children and parents who need that same level of comfort and understanding your job as a board member of a public school system is to hire administrators faculty and staff who are professionals and then support those same professionals as they tirelessly do their job so tonight

038if you truly respect the expertise of our RC s librarian media Specialists please demonstrate that respect by accepting their recommendations on the remainder of the books that you ask them to read thank you next we have next we have Matt fee good evening everyone before my comments I first have a statement from the president of the local NAACP in regards to the diversity uh resolution for tonight Mr David settles quote Dei initiatives do not lower quality standards for potential school system employees it only broadens the reach of the system so that it better reflects the community it serves rigorous standards should be applied to all but aggressive recruitment from underrepresented segments of our community should as well it only makes us better end quote when I was a kid my mom once said to me

039Matthew if you don't have anything nice to say you probably shouldn't say anything at all when it comes to the resolutions coming from this board I think it could have used that advice something else my mom taught me later on was when you see some BS call out the BS this resolution is nothing more than the continuing politicalization of everything from a certain board member meant to do nothing more than rile up a bunch of folks and get attention for himself for whatever reason that is and waste critical time and resources that could actually be spent working on the real needs of students in the county diversity is a strength that needs to be lifted up and any talk about how equity lower standards are just the Mindless talking points of weak mediocre white men

040that can't accept the fact that a person of color or a woman who had to work twice as hard to reach where they are was more qualified than them for a position the policy that is being talked about only ensures that schools aggressively recruit from the underrepresented portions of our community what is is wrong with that to any moderate Republicans that are out there and paying attention is this really the party that represents you I missed the days when the main thing we disagreed on was tax policy and government was boring because it did the work for the people and not the bidding of extremist idoles and we understood there was a difference between campaigning and governing a few months ago there was a gentleman that stood right here and implied that Democrats were the

041part party of the KKK and that was true 100 years ago but today we are the party of Social and racial Justice Martin Luther King said that the Arc of a moral universe is long but it bends towards justice so I can't just call this resolution BS I will call it what it is just another step backwards towards Jim Crow and white supremacy and support for this resolution says you are okay with that please vote against the resolution and get back to the real work of our Public Schools thank [Applause] you next we have next we have Hannah stromgren I am going to read from a book that is available to our students in Rutherford County including some elementary schools the Bible Ezekiel 23:20 brings about a prostitute describing a man whose male members are

042like those of a donkey and whose genitals are like those of a horse did you know the term hung like a horse came from the Bible now our students do Song of Solomon 77 and8 your stature is like palm trees and your breasts are like date clusters I said I will climb the palm tree and take hold of its stocks of fruit may your breasts be like clusters of grapes yes let's teach these boys and girls to feel each other up fruit is an important part of their diet trigger warning on this next one but imagine this happening to our students judges 1925 the man grabbed hold of his concubine and brought her outside and raped her and abused her all night long until the morning 26 continues the woman came and fell down at

043the entrance of the man's house and she laid there till it was light raped so violently she couldn't even make it home I think if this happened this to the victim they should read Speak oh most of them can't since you banned it it gets worse everyone 29 continues with when he reached the house he took the slaughtering knife and cut her up limb by limb into 12 pieces per the Miller test would the average person find this offensive is this excess violence show of hands who finds rape and murder offensive those with their hands down I'm not surprised you don't condone it since you put a rapist in office but you know I am not against the Bible it has good advice too ma'am ma'am first please watch your words please 1 Samuel 20:41

044speaking of David and Jonathan says they kissed each other and wept for each other how Progressive Genesis 389 is kind of on the fence when he did have relations with his brother's wife he wasted his semen on the ground so as not to give Offspring so incest bad but pulling out is a valuable skill that they're not learning in sex saided since according to the CDC our state has the sixth highest teen pregnan teen pregnancy rate in the US so they're learning it straight from the mouth of God my point is this the Bible is filled with actual valuable advice teaching us to love immigrants be kind and how to have faith but it also has a few heinous parts that are offensive and sexual in nature since you ban books by cherry-picking the inappropriate

045and heavy Parts while ignoring the actual Narrative of these books like teaching students to be independent self-reflective and brave I propose we ban the Bible based on your logic and these scriptures as evidence of how inappropriate it is or you can change your logic and go to the eye doctor for your tunnel vision and look at the books as a hole I will end this with a quote from Walter kronite whatever the cost of our libraries the price is cheap cheap is compared to that of an ignorant nation and I'd like to add that includes the cost of librarians who know more than all of you next we have Brian Schuster hello and good evening I feel a bit underdressed tonight I don't have my torch and Pitchfork with me I apologize rather than addressing

046the board regarding the book content this evening I'd like to address our audience and those listening online because this is a community issue if you want to know what content we're talking about I would encourage you to view it for yourself at this web address if you believe removing books with sexually explicit content is bad because it could snowball and lead to book Banning I'd like to offer you some peace of mine it's not my Endeavor nor do I believe it is the board's Endeavor to remove content just because they don't like it or don't agree with it all of us here may have differences of opinion across a multitude of things but we are aligned that book Banning is bad and is not the objective of this exercise this is about the law we

047should be able to come together around that in the last session my compatriots and I were labeled as narrow-minded Bible Thumpers again I wish I had my Pitchfork but all joking aside if striving to live a Godly life according to the standard that Jesus deems and set for us is narrow-minded I'll happily wear that label my heart aches for those who think I and others are crazy for having our faith because I know where you're coming from I once thought as you do and believed as you believe I once didn't understand now what I do I'm not any better than any of you and I'm not any worse my heart aches for you because you haven't experienced the incredible Joy love hope and Grace that is the personhood of God it means you you don't

048yet understand how much he cares for you like a loving parent in fact God is the perfect parent who has done everything possible to reconcile our relationship with him while giving us the freedom to choose to have nothing to do with him I don't mean any of this in a patronizing way or some form of Twisted pity this is a message of hope I'm not the standard I'm just one hungry beggar showing another hungry beggar where to find bread and I pray pray you will love yourself enough to open your mind and heart to seek the truth while you have the opportunity if you'll honestly follow that road asking questions and seeking to know the truth you'll find where that road ends at the foot of the cross to improve our community we need to

049come together like we are here and be willing to hear and listen to one another deferring to the truth when we disagree I hope we can continue to engage that way and I'm willing to do so for anyone who wants to have a cordial respectful conversation I'm happy to talk at the end of the meeting at the back of the room thank you thank you next we have Zan alasco I'm sorry I probably say it wrong every time quite that tall uh thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight and thank you for volunteering your time as RC board members I speaking as an RCS retired teacher librarian and a parent of RCs graduates originally I had intended only to speak about the censorship of books however it seems to me

050that this topic speaks to other prevalent issues this board has discussed recently in reviewing the mission of RCs it states that we you the board me as a parent and a teacher are investing in our students for tomorrow's possibilities this Mission would seem to mean that we are giving giving them educational resources opportunities equ equity and inclusion of all so that students receive the same chances to become critical thinkers and well-rounded students to meet those possibilities yet in the last few meetings there were resolutions of support for both deportation and exclusion of Dei as it pertains to District Personnel how is it that the same quality education we strive to give students doesn't align with opportunities to help them become those critical thinkers and well-rounded citizens having chances to navigate both difficult and different and

051sometimes difficult situations in books with diverse classmates teachers administrators and staff where they can have discourse over wayy subjects is what we purport to do but are we practicing that now some of these students will stop their education after they graduate but some will not and need to be prepared for that for example I have three kids that graduated from Seagal High School one works with a team based in India one lives and works in Amsterdam and one lives here in town all three like many students take different paths but they all had the preparation another example at the last meeting we had outstanding students one who they said made a perfect ACT score but yet we do not want them to have difficult text or support diversity within our buildings this is the world

052they are walking into these are students that are regularly active have active shooter drills but we want to protect them from words it seems the direction this board is taking currently is more political than a student centered Vision I am asking the board to stop proposing resolutions and actually listen to the book evaluations reenter and focus on giving all students every possibility to be prepared for events in their Hometown or around the world wherever they land thank you next we have Lisa F good evening I'm Lisa th I'm a mother of two one in Middle School here in Rutherford County and another who's a senior MTSU my family moved to Tennessee for its values faith family and most of all Freedom we believe in the right of parents to raise their children according to their

053values We Believe parents not the government should decide what's best for their children and yet here we are still T still talking about these things taking away that choice when it comes to books in our schools we have a vague law and a group of people determining what is obscene and harmful for everyone's children this isn't just about a reading list this is censorship and quiet indoctrination every day many of us read from a book that contains sexually explicit depictions murdering babies and horrifying descriptions of assault and War but we don't ban the Bible we learn from it before anyone says these books are obscene harmful and aren't appropriate for kids let me share real life statistics from the most recent Tennessee Department of Health Report in the year reported nearly 5,000 700 teenage pregnancies

054occurred in Tennessee that same year over 11,000 500 Tennessee teens were diagnosed with chyia in 2020 2777 children under 18 were victims of sexual assault and that's just the ones we know about none of these were caused by or exacerbated by reading a book from the school library pretending these issues don't exist won't make them go away it will just leave our children unprepared to face them and we can't censor just because we don't like the topics discussed I'm the mother of a cancer survivor there's a book called I wish my kids had cancer a family surviving autism when I first heard about it I was Furious how dare that father minimize what my family endured how dare a book be available that could harm my fragile child but did I demand that the book

055be banned no because Freedom means understanding that just because something offends me doesn't mean I have the right to censor it for others the First Amendment doesn't just protect speech we like it protects all speech even the speech that challenges us or makes us uncomfortable able or forces us to think I'm not asking for these books to be required reading or placed in elementary school libraries if a parent doesn't want their child reading a book they should have a p the power to block it Banning books outright doesn't protect children that erases Choice it erods freedom and is insulting to parents and let's be honest the moment you tell kids they can't have something they want it even more how many parents here snuck out of the houses teens went to field parties drank maybe

056even worse we know how this works the very few kids even checking out these books in their high schools are doing it either because they think they're being sneaky or because they desperately need to read them and by putting them on a band book list you just made them even more desirable censorship is in protection it's fear and fear is not what makes Tennesse strong instead of banning books Let's Empower parents let's work together to give families the tools to have meaningful conversations with their children about the issues teens are facing thank you [Applause] next I ask Miss Chloe Donan good evening I stand before you once again as a Christian and a senior in the Rutherford County School District I stand Here horrified that today we are seriously Banning books what is happening in

057this County how is it that we have come to the point where we're being told what we can and cannot read where ideas are being Stripped Away voices are being silenced and the truth is being hidden behind a wall of censorship our nation is already falling in the same footsteps as Nazi Germany but let our County not do the same please this is a true horror occurring though something more recent has come to light and I've never been more ashamed to call myself a student of the ruford County School District it seems now that we live in a society where verbally attacking others is a new social norm and it must stop I will not ignore the disgusting and horrifying things being said about our Librarians these are the people who dedicate their lives to

058guiding us through the very processes of learning and yet they are being vilified being branded as Predators as groomers as the enemies of the public good these baseless accusations are nothing less than slanderous poison and it's beyond me how this level of filthy defamation is being allowed to run unchecked where is the Justice when these hardworking professionals being dragged through the mud forced to endure humiliation threats and public shaming for simply doing their job if we're going to be furious about something let's direct that Fury at the sickening Injustice being done to the very individuals who are here to help us grow however there are more issues than just this I look at this schoolt and I I must ask why are you letting this happen how can you sit there and know the truth

059and allow yourselves to be pushed around and threatened by a handful of loud people who have no right to dictate what our schools give us access to you're kind of caving to the pressure from a small loud group of people is this how low you're willing to go to let the freedom of all of us be silenced by intimidation by threats from people who care more about controlling others than about educating them even though there are way more issues in this system than whether an 11th grader can read The Game of Thrones series you were the ones who swor an oath to safeguard our right to learn to think and to grow but now you are letting us be bullied into submission sacrificing our rights our very ability to think critically make no mistake this

060isn't about protecting us this isn't about protecting the children it never was it's about pushing an agenda and imposing their beliefs onto all of us they want us to be passive and obedient and quiet and you guys are enabling this with all of this there are so many issues but as you are concerning yourselves with this here is the choice before you you can choose to stand up for the truth for the freedom to think to question and to learn from every corner of our history and Humanity or you can choose to bow down to fear to narrow-minded control to a few loud voices please do the right thing protect our rights and our Librarians don't let history repeat itself and please do not ban the books thank you next we have Lindsay [Applause] Schultz

061hello again board members since you all and all of the other people in the room love to quote the Bible so much I have a few quotes I'd love to throw at you Ecclesiastes 7.2 for the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it in the King James Bible uh in the King James version of the Bible Matthew 7.1 it says judge not that ye be judged this is often misunderstood and is sometimes used to justify never criticize others however Jesus was warning us that judgment has consequences and that we should judge fairly and I find it hilarious that the very people who are using Jesus in the Bible to quote unquote protect our children from pornography are

062the very people that are insulting and judging everyone that disagrees with them unjustly and unfairly they are calling us pornographers child groomers and various other things that are completely inappropriate and I think that Jesus would disagree with you using that kind of hateful language and hate speech spewing it at us like we don't matter Jesus loves us too especially because we're only asking you to follow the federal law you were also gaslighting us and saying that you respect our Librarians while completely disrespecting them by ignoring their expert educa educated opinion you made them do all of this work report on books that they had already verified as appropriate for the school systems and then you had the audacity to look them in the face and basically imply that they were wrong even though they have

063had education courses on how to cultivate a school library curriculum also at the same time you're also for resolution for anti- Dei which means that you are against everyone that is in a straight white Christian mail this includes you being against veterans sped females which I find even more disturbing because four of you are in fact female which means that you're voting against your own gender lastly we had a school shooting in this country refuses to admit that we have a gun problem but the school board only seems to be concerned with painting books and removing them so that we go back to 1984 war is peace freedom is slavery ignorance is strength for those of you that want to join the thought police later I say all of this to say you are blatantly

064voting in favor for a cult-like religious body that goes against Jesus's actual teachings and one that is trying to control us and will set us back to 1930s Germany it begin with book burning so when you're ready for us to show up for the camps let us know otherwise stop Banning books stop allowing religious zealots to make laws in this country and invade our schools because our country was built on the separation of church and state when did you all become Philistines shame on you all ma'am sit down please please sit down I'm just saying it would be better if we try to read the books and understand what we're doing thank you [Applause] please do not comment and do not talk to the speaker the next one we have is and our last speaker

065is Mela St Stant okay next one is Valeria Diaz de Leon there she is and I'm sorry if I didn't say that right it was it was okay um hi I'm here to talk about your resolution calling for the closure of the US borders I do want to acknowledge that your agenda stated that you all will be resending it and although I do appreciate the action with all due respect the damage is already done all throughout our district there has been an increase in student absences students are afraid that they will go home to to find their parents missing parents are afraid to send their kids to school and fear that they may not come home and our school board decided to respond to this by releasing a statement that completely vilifies our ESL Community

066this resolution personally affected me and my family because my three sons will be attending RC schools as ESL students and you have just stereotyped all ESL students is coming from the southern border and in this political climate we all know the implication that has instead of using your last meeting to reaffirm to the general assembly your opposition to school vouchers you decided to call your entire ESL Community a burden I understand that your ESL department has grown a lot in the last two years and I'm aware that you hired 25 new teachers I'm just having a hard time seeing the issue with this I thought job creation was a good thing I also contacted your ESL department and I asked about funding as well as did a bit of research on my own and I

067know that ESL is funded federally through title 3 and the rest through State Fund per your ESL coordinator you do not you will not get denied for asking for funds you just have to ask since funding is such an issue again I don't understand why you didn't reaffirm your opposition to voucher since that will directly impact school funding in the years to come this only leads me to believe that you did not write that resolution in good face but to further divide our community I am here to ask that you not only resend this resolution but that you apologize and put our neighbors friends and children at ease I'm asking that the district informed parents that the policy and procedures that RCS will take of the policy and procedures that RCS will take in the

068event that an immigration official visits a school I'm asking you to assure our families that their kids are safe wetherford County's mission is every student every day but after the release of that resolution I'm left wondering if you truly mean every student [Applause] please sit down please sit down please sit down we have a long meeting tonight thank you all for your public comments number nine we have human resources number one signing bonus we have our 2526 signing bonus incentive for hardto staff subject areas recommended motion is to approve the signing bonus incentive for hardto staff subject areas as presented any comments or questions motion to approve second thank you Miss sharp all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes number two seagull high and Oakland high schools are seeking approval for a

069co-op to be formed between them for lacrosse seagull high school students would join with the established Oakland High School lacrosse team for the 2425 spring season this would um dissolve the previously approved approved Co-op between seagull high school and Rockville High School recommended motion is to approve the lacrosse Co-op between seagull high and Oakland High Schools as presented any comments or questions motion to approve second thank you Mr Tidwell for seconding all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes number 10 legal first is Just for information tsba Board of distinction program recognizes school boards for their work school boards that seek this designation must meet specified requir requirements in four key areas planning policy promotion and board development one of the requirements is an annual review and maintenance of the entire policy which

070we are currently undergoing thank you number two and do we need to call Jeff Reed up here he was here there he is there he is so number two is just the termination of architect Services recommended motions to authorize the termination of the contract with Sherman Carter Architects for Central Magnet School stem building renovation and 814 South Church Street yeah this is just to terminate the agreement with respect to those two facilities um so we can reevaluate what plans we have for those options okay places so we're as being terminated as the central Magnet School stem building and the 814 South Church Street okay any questions yes M sharp was there a penalty with that no they will get paid for the work that they performed on the projects through the day of the termination

071anyone else move to approve thank you Mr Darby rather and thank you Mr svel all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes next question yes when when will we be presented with a new contract with a different architect do we have a time frame we'll have to get with CTE to see what programs or what things they can reduce and then at that time I'll be able to ask for design fees for that scope of work 30 days I would think so yes next next month yes thank you next we have number three number three and this has been updated based on our conversation Tuesday night transfer student under discipline one the board's been requested to Adit a transfer student from another school system under discipline the student was remained for possession of

072THC according to policy 6. 318 the board may deny admissions of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another school system on supension expulsion director of school's recommendation is to deny based on space we're at a 100 I believe at Daniel mcke and 80 at Smyrna West and that is again just truly based on our new tier system being in place motion to deny second thank you Miss sharp all in favor say I I I all opposed any opposed rather motion passes next we have the policy adoption there's no objection I'll just read all these together is there any objection to that thank you okay policy adoption first reading of two readings these policies below recommended on the first reading these policies will brought at the next scheduled board meeting

073for a second and final reading policy changes so a policy 2.88 purchase orders and contracts this as language of exemptions from purchase order requirement to match County government B policy 4.63 promotion and retention as language regarding request for retention to be in writing pursuant to State Board of Education regulation C policy 5118 background investigations as language regarding background checks and FBI rback program for employees and other individuals having proximity to students D policy 5.500 discrimination harassment of employees postponed from the meeting on 10524 but we updated to match federal and state definitions of discrimination and harassment e policy 6.24 attendance of non-resident students clarifies geographical boundary for non-resident students and that just was an update from the geographical zones of our district to match just within Rutherford County recommend motions to adopt the above policy

074on the first of two readings as presented and again this will come back to our February 20th meeting motion to approve thank you Mr V second thank you Miss Rosales all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes next we have number 11 engineering and construction first is Thurman Francis J and Auditorium sound system Dr Mark G is partnering with the experienced Church to replace the gim and Auditorium sound system the cost for this replacement is $2,619 70 and is being completely covered by the experienced Church engineering construction has reviewed the request and has no objections I want to thank the experienced Church um and the positive impact they continue to have on our school system they continue to donate time money and resources to our school system yes thank you very much right

075move to approve second thank you thank you Mr Mr all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes number two Roy Waldren Roy Waldren School nutrition painting project the school Nutrition department has been reviewing options to upgrade the appearance of the cafeteria serving lines for a couple years currently they're requesting to begin a school serving line project with r walr Elementary the cost for this project is $6,717 55 and will come from the fund balance of fund 143 and will not require additional funds engineering construction Department review the request and has no objection any questions move to approve thank you missar second thank you Miss Derby all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes number three Rocky Fork Middle Rocky Fork Middle softball request principal Jennifer Clark is requesting to install concrete

076around the girl softball back stop to improve the fan sitting area this project is being donated by GP concrete and the estimated cost is 567 $ and at no cost to the board engineer construction has reviewed the request and has no objection move to approve second thank you Mr Arby all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes number four ww worth Buchanan baseball field request principal April sne is requesting to install artificial turf at home plate of the baseball field cost for the this project is 4,000 as being funded through the baseball account this request is at no cost to the board an engineering construction reviewed this request and has no objection move to approve second thank you Mr Tidwell all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes number five Smyrna

077High School adjacent lot development engineering construction has been approached by City of Smyrna GMC design and Southeast development concerning the plans for the adjacent lot engineering has had means to discuss the teot approvals and the effects on our campus I we discuss with this with the board and the possibility to request a motion on the 35 acres of land that is mostly in a flood plane and so are we in a position Mr Reed Mr Lee to make a potential motion to move forward with that exercise the option for I believe it was $10 for the 35 Acres you can go ahead and indicate you can go ahead and vote as an IND the intent of the Board of Education to exercise that option and I think Bush was going to pay that so I'll

078buy it he's checks today for 300 fre yeah I'll make a motion we approve this this no brainer yes second for Mr tid Miss sharp has a comment I would like to um piggyback off for what Mr Vault said the other night I would like to add an amendment to that and keep that as well as ADD we need to look at those other two pieces of parcels we need to engage and due diligence with them and see if we cannot purchase those for the school system um so I'm not clear what you're a a motion to amend do we have a motion on the floor yet we do have a motion on the floor okay so we have a motion to amend yes there were two Parcels that were between the road and Kroger

079that they had no retail on it and Mr vong go ahead no I was going to say let me make a suggestion do do the clean motion to to exercise the option then I'll second your motion okay on that yeah I think it's cleaner that way yeah yeah so the motion is that we exercise the option to purchase the $35 for $10 35 Acres sorry for for $10 all in favor say I I I any opposed motion passes now now I'd like to make a motion to enter into a due diligence with the owner is it abon about the two Parcels that were on the west side of the parking lot I think that's West isn't it west side of the parking lot there is no retail there at this moment and we need to

080see if how much they want for that property and we can so is is it intent that we're inquiring as to whether we can buy or acquire those Parcels yes there's the on the front side of the street the the retail has already been filled there there are already businesses that have purchased that those two lots that are really between the Kroger parking lot and between the street and the school we need to see if we can purchase those the motion would be to um approach the owner to see there if we can acquire those properties for the Board of Education yes and Andor modify the the site plan I would throw that in there just as as good measure just to see if Trey can I don't know not putting a burden on you

081but I maybe I stepped out on a limb but I started that process the other night I him to I asked the gentleman that was here representing the design team if he would go ahead and start that process to at least give us some kind of idea but yes a motion would be appropriate Miss Williams do you have the do you have it down did it did okay so make sure you have it okay see if you can get that for see if you can get that for $10 if you do you go ahead and stand for it and we'll pay you back I would love to but I don't think I'm going to be able to pull that one off that's going to be okay motion is to uh say the motion again please

082or to modify s thank you site plan site plan thank you all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes thank you next we have number 12 and the first resolution yeah there are two resolutions before the board for consideration tonight the first one is actually actually a request to resend a prior resolution the first item is a request to resend the resolution to expedite the closure of the borders and increase title three funds for ESL services that passed on January 23rd 2025 and there's been uh a request made to resend that resolution make a motion to a second uh M Maxwell I would like to say that I had I have made the request to resend the resolution I advocated for ESL because I am a product of ESL within the public school

083system the effort got Lost in Translation as a way to raise awareness about the little to no help the federal government provides to the districts and for that I was mistaken districts have no control over the decisions made by the federal government all we can do is our best as a district to educate everybody thank you any other questions comments so and you seconded it okay all in favor of resending this uh resolution I I any opposed thank you been res sended number two the second resolution item we have is one that U Mr TI will proposed this is resolution we read on um Tuesday night the resolution calls it says be resolved that the ruford County School Board calls on the tency general assembly to delete TCA 49-1 d302 G in its entirety eliminating

084State imposed requirements related to educator diversity goals recruitment strategies and Statewide monitoring systems that prioritize demographic characteristics over professional qualifications and academic outcomes and it further resolved that the Board of Education urges the Tennessee General Assembly to re re-evaluate existing policies and rules stemming from TCA section 49-1 d302 g so that's the resolution you have currently that was discussed on Tuesday night I will say there was a there were two new bills introduced in the state legislature today you should be aware of which it does kind of hit squarely on the same point that was h house bill 0622 and Senate Bill 1083 both of those were introduced um actually on February 5th and as introduced and proposed they entitled dismantle Dei act which prohibits local governments and public institution of higher education from making

085hiring decisions on any metrics that consider an applicant's race color religion sex national origin age or disability or hiring a particular candidate in order to achieve any goals to increase diversity Equity or inclusion in the workplace so those were two um identical bills introduced in the house and the senate for the state legislature so that has just happened on February 5th M yes Mr tidal uh I would I talked to the individual State Rep Aaron Mayberry that that ran those bills and I would like to add an amendment to this resolution if the board would be on to it I'd like to add language in support of both of these bills which is HB 0622 State bill or Senate Bill 1083 uh as both of these bills uh we've been asked to support this as

086both of these bills would fulfill what this resolution was intentionally aiming at fulfilling so if we can add that language uh to support both of those that so the proposed language to be added would be and to support House Bill 0622 and Senate Bill 1083 that is correct because the passage of both of those bills would supersede and give this the results that I've asked for in this resolution that is my motion second questions and comments Mr Tidwell yes ma'am would you mind um there have been a lot of questions about what your resolution is speaking to specifically when it comes to the Dei would you mind going over that please no not at all uh so I did go over a little bit at the work session but I don't mind covering it again

087here obviously uh Dei and its agenda or tentacles as I like to say uh that reach out to different areas um it it there's a political aspect to it and I'd like to point out something of course I don't like to address comments very much but I would like to say something pointing out that politics exist is not bringing politics into education it's exposing the politics that are there that's what I've done here with the education with this particular resolution which is to get rid of educator diversity goals uh strategies to address those and monitoring by the state now I brought this resolution not because we are against diversity that's a far cry that's just a strong man argument obviously we are for diversity we have a very diverse body what it's for what it's

088against is that whenever we are dealing with hiring our own policy states which is tied to the State Board of Education 5.7 and the um the code which is T TCA 49- 1 302 section g what that requires is us to consider race in the hiring process obviously if you have educator diversity goals you're moving toward that I don't think it should be a factor I think that there is plenty of law that says that RAC is hiring with a factor of race is discriminatory that's why I've ran this bill I think that we should focus on Merit or not bill this resolution I think we should focus on Merit now there was some stuff that was brought up the other night and that particular item was that well this is past the filing deadline

089which it was not uh and this is going to lay on somebody's desk for a while it's going to be a waste which it isn't and that's all proven today as the information came out the bill was of course filed Friday but after talking with Mayberry uh after it got a little bit more pressed today this dismantle Dei would accomplish what I've asked from the resolution so progress has been made we have supported the state which I had mentioned at the work session and uh this will pass so that's the distinguishing Factor I'd like to add one more piece because I feel like this is uh important as well inclusion is often used in special education um that's an appropriate use of it so it's not even an attack on that like there's it gets

090so misconstrued uh but I think now no no please St thank you I think now that there has been Clarity added this has full support and I can't remember if it's the house speaker and the Senate speaker or the House Majority Leader and Senate House Majority Leader but they already have support and co-sponsored on this bill it's going to pass so I think this is a great please stop I think this is a great resolution I think I've made my argument clear and clean and I would like motions on the floor we have a second I would like to vote it forward with with the amendment included Miss massell yes M Rosales okay I just want some a little bit of clarity Aon Mayberry did call me he told me today that he did bring

091this up but I just need a little bit of clarification for this I I don't think the intent of what you're saying is translating well okay um I'm trying to understand like the Border well it doesn't matter um we're this is not something that I'm trying to do for tick for TAC okay I'm actually trying to help you a little bit in trying to get some of this translation clear I'm trying to help in some things I'm not this is again this is not take for tack so please don't take this as a personal attack on you at all or in anything of what you're trying to dispute that's not my intent right now I'm just want to lay that down what I want to clarify in this is that and this is where I

092was trying to get clarity even from tsba the code that we're referencing is TCA 491302 section g section g what it lists is that the commissioner shall recommend and the board shall adopt a policy to promote educ educator diversity the policy must include strategies for leas to use in the Recruitment and Retention of minority educators a requirement that each Lea set a goal for educator diversity that takes into consideration the diversity of the students that the Lea serves and a plan to monitor diversity in the state well this particular um piece and section is tied to Tennessee State Board of Education educator diversity policy 5700 and includes what is Educator diversity it says that Lea goals and strategies to promote educator diversity shall comply with applicable state and federal civil rights law and shall prohibit

093discrimination based on race color national origin sex disability and age these laws include but are not limited to titles six I mean title 6 s of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title 9 of the education Amendments of 1972 the Americans with Disabilities Act the Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the age discrimination age um Act of 1978 elas should work closely with their local attorneys to ensure plants are in compliance with state and federal law minority educator includes but is not limited to an educator who is black or African American Hispanic or Latino know Asian-American native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander or American Indian or Alaskan native or two or more races are reported by the educator in the state licensure database so um I think what I need from Clarity

094is that this piece when an employee comes to the office to CL in any workplace has an equal employee opportunity poster that is posted in list of things that cannot be discriminated and I agree with you in this is that when we're hiring it should be based on the Merit and the qualifications but what I'm asking is that the the resolution is asking to remove the entire code this piece of the entire code I don't think is about removing the hiring practices of what is protected right now under all of this and affirmative Act is just really what you're wanting to accomplish is how we're going about it in these hiring practices but we're not doing away with this so what I'm proposing is not to eliminate the entire code but just to strike down

095those practices that give an impression that we are trying to hire outside that get like if we're trying to get a merit or um outside outside of the Merit or giving a quota and going as far as getting databases to track these things and things of that that nature that's what I'm asking can we struck out number two and number three because number one is still needed this Max yes Mr and then Mr v um so you are asking for talking about TCA MH 49-1 302g right MH which says you just read some of it commissioner shall recommend and the board shall adopt a policy to promote educat diversity the policy must include you want to keep number one which is strategies for leas to use in the Recruitment and Retention of minority Educators because

096it's encompasses everything yeah what's included here yeah but I'm reading right you got that one number one but you want to get rid of number two and number three strike those a requirement that each ala set a goal for educator diversity that takes into consideration diversity of the students of the AA serves and a plan to monitor educator diversity in the state that is exactly what you're trying to do you're trying to do way based on this resolution that you're talking about um I don't I don't have where is that resolution at that it says um and is eliminate State impose requirements related to educator diversity goals recruitment strategies and State Statewide monitoring systems that provide demographic characteristics over professional qualifications academ outcomes that's the piece that you really are trying to Target you're not

097really trying to Target the things that are being protected but equal employment opportunity which is what's listed in every workplace of what is anti-discriminatory so I just want to have a little bit of clarification of what you're trying to do and the goal that you're trying to do in trying to also say that we're complying with federal laws that we are hiring we're not discriminating against against any of these protected classes that's what I'm my proposal and I'm asking instead of stricking out that piece can we amend it to really strike the parts that you're trying to accomplish thank you Miss Maxwell have the floor then Mr V okay sorry she was asking me a question I know I know okay fair um no uh as I understand it I mean I'm reading this directly

098from TCA 49-1 I think I understand where you're trying to come from but all of this language according to my conversations with Aaron is attached to the same thing that I'm asking in this resolution the both of these bills is going to take this whole section out the State Board 5.70 is going to go away as well and the whole protections part that's already in several pieces of Education as well so that's not going away we're not striking that but it was added in to this policy it's just another layer it's that's listed in multiple places in the education bill so that's not going away uh but as it sits I mean no I I have a resolution I think I've been pretty clear uh very clear about what that says and what it's going

099to to do in the intent and this ball this bill no matter what no matter what the board decides at this point this bill is going to pass and it's going to go through and it's going to get rid of it anyways I feel like that we've already made progress on here the original question was the original thing on on Tuesday was okay well we not going to have any support well we got as much support as possible at the state level it's going through so I yield the floor back to Mr B Mr vaugh you maybe there something I'm misunderstanding but you know this is the second resolution that's we brought up it's caused division in the community and cause problems um and these are the things that we don't we don't have a

100dog in this hunt I mean it's a federal issue and the State issue and they've taken care of it and addressing it our responsibility the way I understood it was we're elected to serve the students in Ruf County Schools we're not the not to effect laws in in Nashville Tennessee or in Washington so so you know um we don't have an issue with Dei in County so I I just can't see from the board we I think we're overstepping our boundary I don't think that I can't uh no please be quiet yeah I just can't I can't support so you know I think if individually if you want to do that that you know Mr well I appreciate it and respect you for it but I just can't as a board think that we need

101to support something like this we need to concentrate on the issues that are facing Us in R County more I appreciate Mr Ary I'm just going to make sure that I'm got my head fully wrapped around all of this this is not dealing with our student correct Mr Tidwell correct this is on the hiring level that is correct and the TCA code that you are talking about is if I'm understanding it correctly the way it is written and what it is requiring us to have is a policy that basically says that we are going to prioritize I'm not saying this is what we're doing so let me just start there but the TCA code that you're talking about is saying that we have to have a policy that states that we are going to prioritize

102certain individuals over others for the purposes of Dei are you asking yes okay so as it states the the code is the goal is Educator or the the language is used educator diversity goal so and strategies to implement the educator diversity I I am I failed to see how that is should be a factor in the hiring process now how that trickles down uh as Mr V had had a question how that trickles down the ruford county is we have policies right now that involve that because we're required to by state so whether it is happening or not um we are required to have those policies so this resolution is to rid that of the state requirement so the State Board isn't mandate to do it and push that down on districts but it is

103directly related to us which is why I brought it here it's not some far off reaching issue so um I'm not done sorry can you read the section that talks about the retention and retainment um Recruitment and Retention of them yes on the TCA of our Educators okay so the TCA portion let me pull that back up here that at I'll get that for you all right so the TCA this is the code in Tennessee law the commissioner has basically four sentences okay I'm just going to read those four sentences just everybody's clear the commissioner shall recommend and the board shall adopt a policy to promote to promote educator diversity this policy must include so that's the first part here's the three part part s that that policy includes strategies for leas to use in

104the Recruitment and Retention of minority Educators number two a requirement that each Lea set a goal for educated diversity that takes into the consideration that takes into consideration the diversity of the students that the Lea serves and number three a plan to monitor educator diversity in the state now would you like me to read the state board's procedure of that I give you a quick quick hit on that all right so the the way that the State Board of Education which is Educator diversity policy 5.0 5.70 the policy sections are broken up into four sections and I'm just going to read those it's very short policy context and definitions where they Define the terms educator diversity goals where they Define what that is strategies to address educator diversity and then monitoring educator diversity at the

105state level so is hopefully does that answer your question as far as giving you an idea of where that is I think so thank you Mr Mr B did you have something you made a comment and said there was a policy what what board policy do we have Dr sand or anybody that's got it up right now what's the policy U it's 1.70 it's under Personnel okay it says to set goals for educator diversity that take into consideration the diversity of the student population okay just referenced backboard PL plain and simple right back to state board and it's got a legal footnote State Board of Education policy 5.70 TCA 491302 G and it's got another one another cross reference to an additional policy that is the exact same all right all right so I'll make

106a couple of observations or comments our board chairman stated the other night that uh and I'm going to put it in my words Madam chairman that we have stepped off in it a couple of times by doing these resolutions um that we're in the business of taking care of kids we're not in the business of of trying to tell a state legislature how to run their business you know and this is going to sound like I'm scolding you Caleb and I don't I guess I mean it this way if you want to run for state representative you want to go to Nashville and change policy that's fine I'm all for you buddy I'm all for you but passing this tonight sends the wrong message I work in an industry that strives and has to overlook

107or deal with diversity in our customer base you know the the the greatest thing that people can have in this country is home ownership and we are trained I'm I'm a almost a 40-year veteran and listening to this uh dealing with non-discrimination issues and I don't think you're hearing yourself right now the the message you're the message you're conveying is that if you're not a middle class white guy don't apply and and and I don't think that's the message that you're trying to say but that's how it's coming out right now it's kind of like telling me I'm fat and ugly I understand that I know that right and it wouldn't hurt my feelings but but telling but but resending or or endorsing an idea to tell people uh if you're not white middle class

108male don't apply it it it it's a subliminal message that you're giving we we Butch and I visited Smyrna and I think I remember this right the principal down there told us there's 52 different languages is spoken in that school 52 there's a lot of diversity in this community and so if if you're a minority or you're a woman or you're from Asia or you're from Africa or you're from South America and you have been fortunate enough to get a good education in Rutherford County Schools you've gotten a scholarship to go to MTSU to be a teacher or go to TSU and be a teacher or Vanderbilt and be a teacher and you want to come back here and serve this community we're giving you the message in this resolution uh we're not sure we

109want you to come work here and I don't think that's what you're trying to say but that's how it's coming off right now so I I would I would ask that you would resend this motion and let's not even vote on it let the state legislature take care of it let let them deal with it if if something needs to be changed our president just said hey he's taking care of the girls or the boys in the girls' bathroom did so we don't even have to enter into that with this so I I would I would beg you right now as to the controversy we went through the last two weeks over the misinterpretation of M rosales's uh um resolution that's what's going on right here so I would ask that you resend it yes

110Miss sharp you Mr Tidwell um when is that bill going to come to the floor for a vote do you know I do not know he did not tell me when it's come to the flo uh to the floor but it did get uh filed so okay so if it does come to the floor for the vote and it passes we will just be revisiting this issue yeah it will be required it will supersede it will be it'll accomplish the goal yes and we want have to vote on it thank you yes then I want to say something as well you can you can go first well as we discussed on Tuesday night during our work session um we are not burdened by Dei in Rutherford County perhaps there are uh this is in failing

111school districts like Shelby County where the state recently has hinted it taken over perhaps there is a district to our North uh of ruford County that has having this issue but this resolution before us tonight should not be here and it stands to create more harm than good within our district uh all I've heard all day long are nervous parents calling me emailing me of my sped families that say that this just sends a bad message inclusion inclusion and he may have been talking about hiring practices but that's not what it said that's not what was on channel 4 news that's not what was on wgns and that's not what was on our breaking news on our phones all I heard was my kid will not be able he's on an IEP he's on a

112504 what's going to happen now we have nothing to gain as a board and as a District by voting on this or entertaining this resolution if they passes in the in the senate in the house in the legislature then so be it but not one of our own local legislative body filed a bill to replace you it was a guy in I believe in Clarksville I would assume that they see what I see and that is why create an issue when the issue was not present in Rutherford County schools and I want to thank them for sticking to more important issues like the funding of our schools or resources for our teachers and our staff in closing I support our teachers our staff and our parents and the education of our most precious resource their

113son or daughter who is a Rutherford County student we have a lot to do in the remaining four months of this school year and this resolution is a needless distraction for political purposes appuse Dr Sullivan when you read policy 1.70 yes and you said it said that um the policy states that we will set goals mhm can you tell me what those goals are no I cannot so I I think this is part of Mr tidwell's point and I'm just trying to provide clarification because right now there's a lot of accusations being thrown out there and just because somebody heard on the news that it was this doesn't make it that um I think everybody has to be careful about where they're getting their information from the gentleman who brought the resolution is sitting right

114here telling you what it is it has nothing to do with the students and I think and you can correct me if I'm wrong Mr Tidwell to his point this this law required us to create a policy to Institute this measure and everybody sat up here Tuesday and said well we're not even we're not doing that and I think his point is just if we're not even doing it then why is it even here right and now he's saying the state is going to strike it down anyway so just get rid of it if we're not following it I don't understand why everybody is so upset I'm a huge fan of Merit merit-based decisions Dr suvan knows that him and I have had conversations about trying to get our teachers on Merit based pay and

115at the end of the day what's best for our students is to have the best educator in the classroom regardless of the color of their skin their religion their sexual orientation it doesn't matter we want the best teacher in the classroom teaching our students and maybe it's naive of me but I would like to think that the people we have in place making those decisions are making those decisions based off of Merit and we're not living in an age anymore where it's being based off of skin color or gender or any of those issues and I please stop I have more faith in our people than that I guess maybe I have more faith in humanity I don't know um but I think that that is where the resolution is coming from and he can

116correct me if I'm wrong but I don't appreciate the accusations that are being hurled at him painting him in that light I don't think that's fair or appropriate he has he has spoken about what it's here for he's the person that wrote it not news Channel 4 and not anybody else please stop Miss sharp yes um Mr Reed could you uh could we add some language in the next to the last um paragraph that says this only pertains to our hiring practices would that be amenable to everyone you can add that if that's amendable to everyone the M Maxwell yes I would be open that is described but if that adds even more clarity I'm open to that Amendment yes M Roos Miss Maxwell and then Mr vaugh Jeffrey I think I think there's needs

117to be said about the federal law and um and the affirmative um action this piece of legislature was put into imp implemented by in 2019 correct yes at the time was this a super majority Republican General Assembly that passed this piece of legislature that we're looking to strike down in the Tennessee legislature yes yes yes okay in the federal laws when you are using um factors such as race and even other protected classes which the diversity educator diversity includes these protected classes as under the affirmative action is it a federal law already stating that it is illegal to hire based on a meeting a quota in overlooking individuals base uh overlooking their qualifications and just hire them for based on those qualifications there um there are a number of affirmative action laws on the federal

118government books um that pertain to hiring practices there are protected classes and basically they provide that you cannot discriminate against classes they don't necessarily say you have to hire because of someone's particular race but it prohibits discrimination against those people if they fall within certain protected categories including race age that type of thing right so you're saying based on your answer is that in the protected classes we're not required to hire them we just cannot discriminate them correct right so in doing this if we're using that as a factor it also means that in a federal sense we already mandated federally not to meet a quota cuz that would be that that is going against of what the affirmative action is trying to do correct right so so I don't believe that the intention is

119to try to meet a quota I'm going back again and I know you're not wanting to look at this but the issue the problem is that by striking this whole entire thing down is going to is the whole reason to do this is to mirror the fiddle laws in regards of our affirmative action in protecting classes that goes with this employ this workplace discrimination is legal poster of what it isal to discriminate against is to mirror that and if we want if you want if you're wanting to be based on solely on Merit and doing away uh practices and strategies it really is that comes down to the two and three in that section but removing that whole entire section is doing way in trying to say that we are about diversity what you're trying

120to implement is that we're not trying to hit a magical number just for the sake of M of of getting um diversity and overlooking the best of the best just to hit these numbers Mr vaugh has been waiting carefully I still can't see why we're beating this dead horse it has uh we we don't have this issue in R County I've been involved with schools for 54 years in this County I worked most of these principles and I I know how they hire I know the competition that the schools have and it's because we Tred to hire the best and look at it from this standpoint if your kid was a I'm old football coach so I guess I can relate to that a little bit if you hired a coach you know you want

121to hire the best coach that you possibly can the people I know that we never it never crossed my mind or anybody I've ever known in this County that because of the race or anything like it had anything to do with who we hired because we wanted to hire the best and that's the way our our principles are in this County and I mean this is something that we don't we don't have an issue with gosh we're facing in the budget are probably $650 million and we're sitting here talking about something we have we have no it has no bearing on us whatsoever the president's already said he's putting the hammer down it don't matter what we think we can think whatever we want to and the state is they're going to have to follow

122what the President says if they don't they're going to pay the price for it so why do we need to get in this this battle good night we've got more we got more fish to fry than this we need to K we need just we need to uh we need pay attention to the own our own rat kid instead of warn about everything else you know so Mr tidle and after you speak we're going to take a 10-minute recess all right um honestly I'm I as far as the accusations I've cleared those up I've cleared them in the works I'm not going to keep hammering that particular thing the language is as written there was a a comment made about we don't really have educator goal educ educator diversity goals or anything like that or

123it's not happening here then I'm going to I'm going to present this as simply as possible all right so if it's not happening here and our policy says that we should do it and we are doing it because we're obeying our policy then if it's not happening here then let's get rid of the requirement because we're not doing it so why have it in our policy if we're not doing it if we are doing it then I think that's wrong that we are doing it and to me again that would support moving forward with this resolution to get rid of it so both arguments to me are I'm hearing everybody saying up here it's not happening but our policy says the polic he just read you the policy it says that we are to do

124it so either let's change the policy which we can't unless we change the ask for a change in the law so we we can't do that but yet if it's not happening just vote it out are we waiting for the federal I mean you mentioned the the federal are we waiting for the federal to tell the state what to do to tell us what to do I mean that that's that's what we're waiting on rather than going at I mean it started off here are we good are we good you got a gav great um so if if we y'all no confid thank you so that's that is the most simple way to put this if it's not happening here support the resolution because the resolution's asking to get rid of the requirement which our

125policy is what we abide by are we going to a recess Miss Bo actually going to vote if we can't miss Maxwell one more thing federally we have to abide by federal laws we are required to follow federal laws and state laws yes if we remove this entire section including the piece that promotes um educator diversity which is not necessarily trying to set goals or trying to get a recruiting or strategy but really to align Federal laws within our equal employment um opportunity EOC will that piece get will that causes not to be in compliant with the federal law if it the whole statement is struck down the um the federal law the whatever we do here this body will not change federal law no I know we're not but the request in the resolution

126is to remove in its entire delete TCA 49-1 1-32 section g in its entirety if we delete this whole entire section section g in its entirey that talks about diversity educator educator diversity which the tsba policy ident defines what is Educator educator diversity is which lists out all the affirmative action that is protected classes if we REM if this state law removes entire section will that mean we will be out of compliant with federal law into with in regards to diversity that is the question I would like understanding on well ultimately the the decision to resend 49-1 302g will be with the state legislature the state legislature needs to make the determination of whether or not they think the that law is required under federal guidelines and federal rules so the state legislature decides that

127that's something or decid is not required that's a DEC decision at the state level you know these affirmative action policies that have been in place for many many years before 49-1 32G was ever adopted so I don't think you have to have 49-1 d302 G there to comply with the federal laws pertaining to affirmative action so I don't think you have to have that law there to comply with the federal mandates for affirmative action so what was the purpose of TCA 49-1 32 section g don't know when the legislature adopted it I don't know you know you had the B you had people in the White House promulgating different regulations at that point so it could have been in response to that so I don't know the origin of the statute I've got a recommendation

128if Mr tid will go along with it why don't you take this back and let's wait and see what the state legislature does and go from there I think think we're wasting a lot of time it really I just like to see us you know u i just like see us either vote vote it out or if he could I'd really like for him just re resend it uh and just wait and see what the state legislature does any other questions or comments okay I vote now we can vote okay I don't are we voting on the original motion or is there a motion to amend on the floor are you making a motion to amend to say this just pertains to hiring practices or not did you make that motion I did I seconded

129it so there's okay so there's a motion to amend to add to the proposed resolution that this only pertains to hiring practices correct yes further clarifi yes so you would have to vote on the amendment first all right yes okay this is a vote for the amendment Mrs Rosales yes Mr vaugh no Mr Tidwell yes Miss sharp yes Mr VA Mrs Derby yes Mrs Maxwell no it's a pass so that's the motion to amend to add this only pertains to hiring practices and then you the the board would have to vote on the original motion as amended Mr Maxwell yes uh this uh this motion now to pass this resolution it does include the language to support those you know what we mentioned earlier the bills it would be um to support House Bill 0622

130and Senate Bill 1083 okay thank you it would also say this only pertains to hiring practices yes Miss sharp yes Mr Vault no Mrs Rosales yes Mr vaugh no Mr Tidwell yes Mrs Derby yes Mrs Maxwell no passes no please stop we're going to do a five minute recess please you want you want e e e done Mrs Rosales yes Mr bot yes Mr vaugh yes Mr Tidwell no Miss sharp no Mrs Maxwell yes it passes to reconsider so now that that's before the board the board can debate it again now that you decided to reconsider it and discuss have further discussion on it and take further action on it as the board deems appropriate I would like to say um this is just not a good look the timing wasn't right Mr tidal we've

131been through too much with the vouchers we're doing the books still this is just if if if something passes up at the state legislature and they ask us I know you say they I don't know who they are I didn't talk to this gentleman I didn't know this was coming until Friday so I just don't think that I can I don't want any more resolutions and I implore this board let's get out of politics and let's let's get going with the bus contract and the budget and what we will put up here to [Applause] do let's vot vot I need a motion vote on the final motion okay so we're voting on the motion to reconsider the mo the previous board action is what we're voting on yes Mr ted'll be clear this vote is

132going to be a either to approve the resolution and a no vote will be against approval correct so a yes vote will be in favor of the resolution a no vote will be against the resolution all right the vote is on the resolution as amended to approve the motion as amended is there a second on that second yeah he's already on the floor roll call please Mrs Rosales no Mr vaugh no Mr Tidwell yes Miss sharp yes Mr VA no Mrs Derby yes Mrs Maxwell no all right the nose have it for [Applause] again have done that first no talking please we've got a lot to get to here so we have 43 correct T 40ish 40ish yeah and we're going to try to go as expedite these as quickly as possible I like my

133comments when we get started you know we vote on these books I want every about to understand it's nothing against the Librarians at all uh but we're responsible of each one of us is responsible for own person decisions on these books The Librarians are not the ones voting they're not the ones responsible this we are now I can I can promise you that these B books we're looking at I mean we've had a lot of discussion it's created a lot of issues but I'm telling you I can't see how any way in the world any one of these books can be of any value to a kid I mean if it is we're in we're in dire we're in dire shap because we've let we've let the the values of our kids and morality and

134all just slide downhill so much and we've got to take we got to take our kids back we've lost them we got a mental health epidemic in our schools and if we don't do something about it it's only going to get worse so you know regardless how everybody votes I want the Librarians to understand we love you and all like that but when at the end of the day uh it's on us we're the ones that's responsible for it mam chairman okay go ahead I was going to make a motion or move to follow the librarian's recommendation on all 43 books okay Miss Miss technically Miss sharp buzzed in right before you okay so if everybody will grab their sheet so you can go through this because I'm going to call off my numbers first

135the first one I make a move to retain without restrictions number 34 that was that's a textbook that's a body guide for occupants the second one I'd like to uh number 31 speak we have already removed that one and here comes the list to remove this will include what the Librarians I'm sorry go ahead point of clarity um I think speak is one that we did retain is that correct Dr yes we did retain just one point okay so then we've already we've already reviewed ma' my point uh go ahead it actually has a different ISBN number this is the graphic novel yeah graphic novel and actual text are two different okay and number okay so then okay so then this will go in with the remove so start not voting on these books individually

136I'm going to try to do one where we can group a bunch of them together no I don't want to vote I don't to do that no we voted to y'all can do y'all can do discussions after have to after afterwards we'll discuss I'm just trying to group a bunch of them together and if y'all want to pull some out or put some in or there's some more discussion you can changing the rules no Madam chair said on Tuesday that were going to vote a group together we could do this okay so we're going to remove number four number 10 number 16 number 19 number 20 number 21 number 25 number 32 number 36 number 38 number one number six six number 18 number 23 number 24 number 26 number 27 number 30 number 33

137number 35 number 38 number 39 number 40 number 41 number five and number three [Music] anybody want 26 I got okay can I repeat those just declared is that okay yes absolutely and I'm just going to go from the very beginning that work yes thank you all right number one number three number four number five number six number 10 number 25 2 38 39 40 and 41 is that correct want to make sure I had had it correct get that done second can I ask a clarifying question to her motion what would happen with the ones left would we be going on those individually motion D for last of a second is this remove or to keep remove second okay Mr Rosal just your second we're voting to remove all this yes steps number 34

138which was anatomy and physiology that I that will be retained yes I I do want to make a clarification that 10 of these were recommended by our Librarians so it looks like an astronomical number but 10 of these were actually recommended by a Librarians that they were inappropriate for our schools so so um number four okay I I'll read them mouth okay okay um number one is ask the passenger number three is almost perfect number four is a that's not okay I'm sorry okay I'm so sorry I apologize the ones that were recommended by The Librarians were a stolen Life a fly on the wall how one girl saw everything homebody Living Dead Girl milk and honey Neanderthal opens the door to the universe Perfect Storm and fury the dove the Sun and her flowers

139that's [Music] it so I guess it's there nine sorry not 10 nine to read all right uh Mr B no Mr vau yes Mrs Darby yes Miss Shar yes Mr Tidwell yes Mrs Rosales yes Mrs Maxwell no the yeses have it to remove Madam chairman yes Mr V I would move to follow on the remaining books follow recommendation by the librarian second [Music] can I I'll read those just for clarity sake yes and I all I'm doing for the audience watching is going straight down the list and numbering them that way so this would be the second one a lesson and Vengeance number seven chosen number eight Clockwork Princess nine dumplin 11 girl in Translation 12 Gabby girl in pieces 13 girl in pieces 14 Go Ask Alice 15 her Royal Highness 17 I am

140Margaret Moore 22 Nick and Charlie a heart stoer Noella 28 Rumble Ellen Hopkins shine Laur Miracle 370 invisible life of Addie laroo Schwab 42 winter girls Lor Hy Anderson and then 43 without Merit coling Tu and I believe the recommendation or the motion was the motion was to follow the recommendation to retain these uh novels by the library Mr Tidwell no Mrs Rosales yes Miss Sharp no Mr VA yes Mr vaugh no Mrs Derby no Mrs Maxwell yes the motion did not [Music] pass just all removed okay they're all I mean they stay removed just like they were before that's M unless there's another motion okay what about the remaining of these books with parental consent they are already removed from the Shelf um they are out of the catalog in fact we defined what

141was parental consent at the last four meeting you have to have forent to even pick up the book and browse it so um if these books if added to parental consent we can allow the parents be in the driver's seat to make a decision if this they will even allow the child to pick up the book I second I make a motion to but the motion the motion fails then they stay on the shelf because no they don't already REM REM they say removed that the motion fail she's making another motion okay thank you and you're seconding it Mr I would second that and the motion is that they the remaining books go into the high schools with the rental consent yes High School only that's a clarification of the motion okay M Maxwell yes

142Mr tidal um I would ask if it would be allowable by m roales there are a few books that I would be in agreeance with on this list or what's left of this list uh to add to parental consent but there's a much larger amount that I think is still due for removal so I couldn't support the motion as it sits but if she would be open to amendment I would like to make some suggestions of certain books no I'm going to keep the amendment as isk okay Mrs Darby no Mr VA yes Mrs Rosales yes Mr vaugh no Mr Tidwell no Miss sharp no Mrs Maxwell yes it did not pass motion fails okay M Max IID like to make a motion that the following books uh be retained in the 11th to 12th

143grade access uh rental permission in an opt-in form and these are the books that I would like to add to that list can I just give you the titles yes okay you yes I I'll that would be better I'll try to do both here if that helps I'm starting near the end so we'll go 43 without Merit 42 winter girls 37 the invisible life of Addie L 22 Nick and Charlie 17 I am Margaret Moore 13 girl in pieces 11 girl in translation nine dumpling eight Clockwork princes demand Windows back to just so we can clarify that's correct uh number 43 number 42 number7 number 13 11 9 and eight M Maxwell yes M rales I'm a bit confused here we made a motion previously to add parental consent in high school only now we're

144doing a motion for 11 and 12th with parental consent what's the difference between having in high school only in 11th and 12th grade right I I I don't understand the difference between the two motions we're still putting parental consent we're saying parents to make the decision I am a ra for school parents I think I know what's best where my child sh read or Sho in in fact our parental consent says you cannot even pick this book without permission from your parent to even pick it up and browse it this not circulation it's not in the shelf so I don't understand the difference between having in and high schoolar is seconded Mr tidwell's motion Miss Maxwell yes M uh the difference would be 11th and 12th grade only 11th and 12th graders could could access

145these books so there's a difference distinction there and secondly the motion that was made earlier which I was asking you to amend was these specific books I think the following books I'm about to ask for removal m mawell m I'm just going to one just a distinct in high school and 11th and 12th grader you have 18 years old and 19 years old um cuz I know cuz my son was 18 and 19 they're not going to need parental consent to pick up the book so it just kind of almost defeats the purpose of parental consent if you want have parental consent do it for high school only and and that gives it more reach about what truly is for him consent when you already have adults in high school at 11th and 12th grade

146just going to make that point thank you if we do away with all them we don't have we don't have strong Mr VA you well that's what I say just close the libraries and get rid of the cell phones hell we can protect them from now on now I've got a curious question here go ahead there was a motion back in September to create an adult reading section and I think two of the board members at that time stated because we didn't have a policy to create an adult reading section that we couldn't put those 10 books that were considered back in September I I'm just curious Mr Ted well what has changed since September to create an adult reading section in your view that wasn't appropriate back in September Mr Maxwell yes love to

147answer that question so these books that I just recommended I do not believe violate the law the as was proposed is not an adult reading section because I don't believe these violate the legislative or the the law regarding this particular uh item however the 10 books that I brought forth which I did bring forth uh those 10 books I believe did V violate the law which is why I asked Miss Rosalez if we could amend hers so that we could add these into parental consent and then I could separate the ones i' still believe that are on this list that violate the law there's the distinction okay Madam chairman yes sir Mr Tidwell that's not what you said in September you said it was against board policy that we could not create in the adult

148reading section that's what you said in September I'm just curious what has changed that you could reconsidered an adult reading section now if it wasn't appropriate in September whether or not you wanted to put those 10 books in or not you said it wasn't appropriate to create an adult reading section I'm just trying to figure out what has changed since September not about the books about the adult reading uh parental parental permission section that's all I'm trying to ask m m max Mr B thank you uh I think my point still stands and I would ask you check the minutes I have did not say that we can't create this that was not from me I have been neither for the creation or against the creation my point was there are books that we cannot

149get rid of that I think are need to be looked at from age appropriate standpoint and then there are books that need to be removed I have been Faithfully standing by that standard M Mr V I believe that was me because the the law says that we cannot create a mature reading section this is that's them all okay so what we've done here for the last couple of months we created that we just pull them aside and said they're still on the Shelf but they have to be but we're we're voting no talking please but I about you just said we couldn't do that they're not going to be separate from the rest of the books [Music] please please I don't want to have to ask you all to leave M yes M Rosales Dr

150s I hate to put you on this spot last hello again last Bo meeting we defined what parental consent meant correct we did uh parental consent meant at a last four meeting meant that we're taking the books off the shelf right we were removing them from the general collection from The General collection how do they even access now the books it's a good question we've had this discussion as Librarians and then um I believe we had a further conversation as a board about that they would be removed from the general section we talked about having this is a probably to cost a little money having shelves put behind like certain circulation desks so there's you know every library is a little bit different but they are removed from the general section behind the libraries the

151librarian's proximity where they would have to have parental consent to check that book out well not just check out the book to pick up the book and not just check out the book they have to have parental consent to go for the librarian to go to the Shelf pick up the book and hand it to the child so it's not if we're talking about protecting CHS and children and getting Harm's Way I believe we've done our due diligence by taking in this wave and behind a shelf you got to get permission for the librarian to and pick the book I do think I can provide a little clarification as not the lawyer so Mr Reed can speak to this I believe that previously we had kind of spoken about the difference between a violation of

152the obscenity law title 39 versus age appropriate and that you know by this review process getting going from the Miller test in title 39 deeming them not obscene by the criminal statute then we are we are able to have additional options which is how we kind of ended up with whether there's parental consent or a separate section or or some other tools that were at your disposal we take them all out to solve this problem Miss M Maxwell call we have a first and we have a second all right Mrs Rosales yes Mr vaugh no Mr Tidwell yes Miss sharp yes Mr VA yes Mrs Derby yes Mrs Maxwell yes all right we're going to retain M Max I'd like to make a motion to remove the books that are left do I need to

153go specifically yes okay this point yes all right make sure I get this right number two a lesson in Vengeance number seven chosen number 12 Gabby a girl in pieces number 14 Go Ask Alice number 15 is that still available yeah back to that one I'm not adding that to the list number Rumble number 29 [Music] that's it a second motion to get rid of the rest of one left I left Miss sh who seconded it Miss but did okay okay all right Miss sharp yes oh who wait a minute I'm a little confused that motion was to remove them yes sir they're already removed is this a double Secret probation we got to vote on them T they were already removed Caleb when when Francis removed them back before they're already removed why are

154you voting on them again that's what I'm curious about Poli removed yeah I think I think when we fa when we failed to do the parental consent for all of them it automatically removed when you brought the other books to just the 10 11 those are the only ones that could be retained so yeah I think that just follows the standard procedure of what we've done for the rest of them thank you for the clarification no we have not whenever we vote on a book and motion fails they're automatically removed I did a motion to retain all the remaining books with parental consent that fa you brought the you brought the motion to bring back to retain some books for 11 and 12 technically the only books that you could have brought was the ones

155that you listed the other ones are removed that was the motion we whenever the motion failed we don't go back and try to vote on a removed book that's already removed because it fell that prior motion right yes yes we've done that that's what we've done Madam chair yes M Harvey when we've had motions fail before sometimes the very next motion is the exact opposite of what just failed so is it going to harm anything to vote on Mr tidwell's motion to just put it on the record that this is where the board sat on it we just haven't done them in bunches before I I know that's why I'm saying rather than just leave them I think it just provides extra Clarity I would agree it provides extra Clarity for the record okay are

156you do you have okay you got it okay good okay do you want me to go over the numbers again to make sure that we're clear please I've got the removal of number two seven 15 28 and 29 I believe you left out 15 Mr tidal yes that is correct you not including 15 I did not okay thank you for the clarification Miss sharp yes Mr bot no Mrs Rosales no Mr vaugh yes Mr Tidwell yes Mrs Darby yes Mrs Maxwell no yes to remove I'll make a motion to take out 15 remove 15 you said was left out I make a motion remove it I think we added it in not okay he was okay does anybody want to Mr vau has made a motion to remove 15 you have a second I'll second

157nice try there okay Miss sharp secondy okay this is a motion to remove number 15 Mrs Derby I'll be honest with you I don't I think this was one of the ones that I had trouble finding information on so I'm going to say Mrs Rosales no Mr Vault no Mr vaugh yes Mr Tidwell do not believe this one meets the standard I'm no Miss sharp yes Mrs M well no ma I'd like to make a motion this be uh retained in high schools I miss missed it off the last motion uh when I was going through I I wasn't doing as numbers like we are doing it tonight so forgive me for missing that like to be retained in high schools 11th to 12th grade with the opin for parental permission so I'd like to

158be added I'd like for it to be added to that list that is my motion that is number 15 for Royal Highness I'll second m is second let me I got I got one question uh you talk about you had read anything about it you'll give me a few minutes I'll I'll give you an exert from this book and we can read it out so everybody know what they they're saying they don't hav read it so they don't know what's in it so I can give an excerpt and tell you real quick what's in it you are you good we can just vote it's we can just vote she said she's good okay so this is Book 15 again retain in 11th and 12th grade only with parental consent can I yes you can this

159is her Royal Highness just so the title is yes correct number 15 on this list Mr VA yes Mr vaugh no Mrs Darby of same Miss sharp yes Mr Tidwell yes Mrs Rosales yes Mrs Maxwell yes all right this one will be retained in 11th and 12th grade only with parental consent okay okay that's okay we moving on to financial matters every time this happens to me nobody won't [Music] he we're just going to give it a minute while everyone kind of files out every [Music] time this is the most [Music] I think it's on [Music] um e [Music] I think that's Pages seven and eight it is in the agenda all right we had these two pulled out first was bid number 3786 uh rotary screw Chiller at Wilson Elementary um so that is

160before I think everybody has a copy of that it is anything else you want to bring up about that you have a copy of the bid there there was some questions about how we did the bid and what information was sent out there so that's what was published for public bid we also if you'll notice on page two we also had a mandatory pre-bid to where they could walk the site uh that is typical for us for these types of projects that we have a mandatory prebid so yes yes sir that's what yes sir that's what I you have the bid sorry you guys have a stapled copy of um the bid packet it's the bid packet that was posted online by our purchasing department and we have and then you have the actual bids

161that came in as well with we we also have an extensive list that purchasing keeps anybody that's bid with us in the past or anybody that wants to bid I get probably four to six emails a week people asking how do I get on your bid list right and we we I find we find out what their discipline is electrical mechanical whatever it is and we add them to our list so that list grows weekly yes sir now what what I was going to say thank you for doing this because th this I think is critical to incorporate into the minutes and make it part of public record I know you do it I mean and it's it is it is a perfected system over many many years yes sir and and this is this

162one if I may see how the question was brought up this one was a we typically don't have many issues we had a number of biders that came we talked through it we had a manufacturer that actually assisted Us in the review of what our problems were and helped us write what I call the bid specs they did not that company's Representatives did not attend the prebid if you notice on page two at the top of the page it says a mandatory walkth through and it gives the date and we have a signin sheet and if you were not there on that date you could not be it similar to I witnessed the um School Bus bid that was you you make you ask or make everybody that attends that whether you're bidding or not

163and that was the biggest reason I showed up I wanted to see the pre-bid conference and then the bid opening both so I I kind of been through the process with you but that is typical of how Capital purchases are made within this realm anything that is part of capital projects it's also part of our GP program anything that's not on a permanent bid like fencing we bid out fencing every couple of years or flooring painting ceiling Roofing we've got a ton of things that uh our lawn care um we bid that out every couple of years and they have an option to renew anything over $50,000 we go through this process I almost think you were reading my mind CU that was going to be the next question I just wanted it as I

164said part of the public record and our purchasing department uh gets a lot of my business uh we have a new one going out this will be of interest to some the L High School Gates that we've talked about for a while that actually goes out for bid next week we have a pre-bid on the 2 on the 20th and we have a bid on the 27th so that'll be the next it's a 250 ,000 budget project so same same scenario same process thank you for doing that lady let me ask one question talkinging about U you got help with the specs Representatives uh if that person uh help you formulate the specs is there company eliminated from bid on no sir they're not um but they have to follow the same rules as everybody

165else they know UPF front when I engage them that I'm expecting a specification that meets our need and it meets a certain quality standard but they cannot adjust their bid spec so that it eliminates the competition that's going my next question would this bid speec was written there was there's five major manufacturers four of those manufacturers were represented one was not and the reason they were not is because they wrote the spec but they didn't come to the prebid was that our recommended group to go with sir is that our recommended group to go with so I think that's good for everybody on the board to know that they wrote the spec and that's not a recommended group to go with because they didn't come to the mandatory pre-bid they couldn't beid that yeah that's

166what you're saying on that all right so we we need a motion to approve this bid I would I would and I assume you recommend the low bid Matrix mechanical it's the lowest and best most complete bid cuz there is one bid that is slightly lower but it's not complete oh I would still take I would still move to take your recommendation on this then I've got a I'm going ask you second a second all right what they leave out a couple of PKS okay so that would have significantly changed the C uh yes sir okay all right a second I'm sorry all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes quickly just so the board is aware Wilson and this Chiller is one that we are just trying correct me if I'm wrong

167try this is one we are trying to get through as long as we possibly can it is number one or number two I think it's number two on our fund 177 H pack replacement it is about a 6 and a half to well last year's number 6 and a half to $7 million project CH chill will get us through just a a little while longer so this is just a way to get us continued yeah super expensive sure are so all right next bid I don't have my paper copy so I'm reading off the screen is Bid 245 RFP for student transportation services we received two bids um as the bo I talked about this on Tuesday night uh we of course recommend to accept the bids but not to actually award a contract um

168we will either go with one of two options right now is to move forward and fill these r with our new bus contract whatever we come to an agreement with with our bus contractors or second is to look at purchasing our own buses for these new routes for our Middle School only at po or Elementary popular Hill Elementary that is yet to be determined but our recommendation is we do accept the bids but to move um to not actually award the contract right did I mess that wording up at all well we're we're we were asked by a number of board members what those bids were Mr Vault was there the day we opened the bids the rest of the board members were not so they've never been able to see the bids so we're

169providing those bids for you and at this time it's our recommendation that we don't act on it but because they're provided for information only okay let me I got one question oh no go ahead Mr Arby be you go ahead and I don't know the answer to this but um is there harm in not doing anything with these until we're either at or closer to the contract with the current contractors so we can just we don't we don't have to take action on these at all we can just hold on to them I'm going to make a motion that we hold on to okay okay um so what so why why are we holding on to them if we're not going to act on the beds I think I'm sorry my understanding was we were

170just making them as part of the minutes where there was a copy in the record because it never had been presented to the rest just information only I just I just happened to go and I had it and and it never had shown up in the minutes and I think there's been a lot of um interest from the contractors other people hey what are y'all doing what was the bid now it's part now it's part now it is part of the public record so no harm no foul but everybody can see a copy of it I okay I got just out of ignorance I guess on my part these kids have going to be riding these buses that we're going to buy I don't think we're to the point yet of buying buses I think

171I want to put that out one I'm the kids already these kids are already riding the buses why couldn't the bus drivers drop those kids off since they're already to on these buses that are going Mr V we're rezoning and we will not have adequate numbers of buses when we open the elementary school we will need additional buses okay the shuttle buses that we're currently using to serve Stewart's Creek Elementary have those been considered in this because they'll be free up that next year there's five currently I'm asking for another one but yes they are part of we started plugging in our Zone lines this week and they are taken into account okay so the buses that you're now talking about are in addition to utilizing those already that is exactly correct yes M um

172could I ask a question with Mr Lee uh because I know know that they're I've seen some of the stuff on TV and everything but they're asking for a 35% raise now I know that's just not one person could you give me how many buses we have how many contractors how many drivers we have I can give you that number but it's currently approximately contractors buses no no no no contractors it's around 275 to 280 no that'd be drivers yeah not contractors contract contractors then the drivers I will get with Wanda in the morning and I'll email everybody out the number today's number yeah okay because I think when everybody sees 35% they just see that big percent but that that's not telling them how many buses we have it's not telling them how many

173uh drivers that we have and how many contractors that we have so it just looks like it's a large I'll email everybody today's numbers tomorrow thank you yes Mr B and I thank follow up on that no thank you for doing that because I think that the the semantics of how this is presented as y'all continue your negotiation is considering the number of buses considering the number of routes considering the number of drivers considering the number of owners there there's a lot of different moving parts to this and I don't think the the bus drivers are aware of it cuz there that that is a family in their s but the average taxpayer out here doesn't understand that we're dealing with several different moving Parts um kind of so yes please do that and I

174you know if it could be part of the if it varies a lot from month to month I think we probably should know that uh at least for budgetary purposes obviously getting into this question and not to put anybody on the spot but I I I know you and U Mr Lee and I have talked about this a little bit that we've gone to pretty much a 90 passenger uh bus and I'm just curious after talking to um a couple of the manufacturing salesmen you know the lead time with ordering a 90 passenger bus is is Extreme right now for whatever reason demand I I don't know I've just been told that by a couple of the salesman is there any consideration to using a different size bus different model bus that maybe you know

175I feel like we're still caught up in um the covid leftover Parts hadn't come in on time you know all of that inflationary thing that we that we have all dealt with in our day-to-day lives much less the you know the schools much less the the bus the buses and the bus drivers would would there be any consideration to using different size buses on some of our routes to make them I I know the the the smaller model buses are a little bit cheaper or a lot cheaper but they don't haul as many passengers so there gets to be an economic how do you weigh that out I guess is what I'm asking you or is that another conversation for another day I don't be glad to give you the history this was started by

176Mr snail he's three directors back Transportation directors and the reason that was started then is that it required the contractors to keep a newer B newer year bus we were having difficulty keeping buses on the road is that the same case today can't say that um we have reached out to the local bus contract bus dealerships um we're told um it's about 4 months to get a 90 passenger bus um the other buses are more readily available but it's not years and you know it's not like it was during Co it does give us more flexibility with routes is it possible that we could take some of our more R rur roll routes one of those tongue twisters more rural routes and and utilize a 80 passenger bus sure there there's some routes that it

177would benefit we are we have actually added on some of our smaller sped buses and in between you know it used to be just 24 25 now we've got a few that are a little bit larger um so there is some flexibility that's why we have mult mle seat rates um it we we do have that flexibility we do encourage the 90 just because it benefits us more um but that's not a hard thing and it's not in stone now because we have multiple seat rates in our contract I had a own a friend reach out to me we have 324 contracts that are owned by 180 contractors that's that's I not going to get into disagreement with the gallery so what I would say is we have had a but I will double check

178it again tomorrow yeah and we'll email you what we got we are of course we can utilize State contract um for confidentiality purposes the person on state contract has asked us not to share but they have asked us and it would become public if we were to go into actually purchasing um it guaranteed up to eight buses for for delivery in July if that was the route the board chose to to to look at and so we'll have more discussion State below the state yes thank you yes m can we get um I think there's two different ways that we've talked about the prz even if they're just rough estimates can we get an idea of what it would look like if we implemented it in the district and then if we implemented it only

179at certain schools yeah oh we'll have that number by Monday awesome thank you so much I think it it's schools what we'd have to look at because at schools isn't going to be as big as I would like for to be because if we do it at the elementary level that route or that bus is probably still going to be needed for the middle and the high school route so it's not going to be as big as we would expect it to be so just be prepared for that it shocked me when we first started talking about it do Downs deliver out here for food I'm sure yeah yes M Maxwell yes Mr TI Dr Sullivan are we going to have the bus contractors again we rescheduled right they asked to Res yes next meeting

180that'll be on the 18th is that correct yes okay rate is that correct 18th 18th 18 all right real quick director's update um you guys have a copy if you can go to this we do not have a Tissa estimate but this is our first TSA number had to copy this last time but I do actually want to go over it real quick so you can see Trends I do think it's interesting so this is um just kind of where here we are the district this shows our enrollment and you will see it is just for periods 1 through 4 and so you have a copy of this it's yours is a little bit easier to read out this is a portrait un of landscape but I am looking at where it says District name

181and then it's got Rutherford County it shows fiscal year 26 and I'm really highlighting the very first thing 51530 kids is what we showed for periods 1 through 4 the way the state does reporting periods is every 20 days so this is August basically August September October November is what they're looking at as you go through the year your waiting periods get a little bit higher for how they fund you uh you'll see what we ended the year with last year was 50,7 51 we are up 1.54% um but don't get excited because I'm going to show you we're actually down a little bit here in just a minute um so right now as of this number we're up 779 the T base this year is $ 7,75 I feel like I'm wrong on that

182but it's close 7,75 next year this was on the onepage budget handout um that we looked at a couple months ago I said a 3% increase that's I feel pretty confident that the governor has not had a State of the State to announce that yet but on the education scholarships act last week it talked about the um vure being 7,296 which is 3% of this number so I feel pretty confident that that's the number that is going to be proposed without anything being said next I want you to look at economically disadvantaged so you will see a huge decrease from 8,465 to 6515 why this is important is that is a weighted input on Tisa and it's a 25% weight and so the 25% of 7,000 75 just a second I was actually making sure

183the TAA base was what it truly was so you're looking at a decrease for every one of those students 1,950 kids of 25% of the base so that's when I said you're looking at about a $3 million drop in Tisa funding um for our economically disadvantaged y yes sir can I get those figures again Dr s them yep I give let me look at the TSA Bas just real quick this has to do with the changeing coding absolutely changeing coding y I'm pulling up the TSA guide so I'm give the exact numbers for you I had it earlier and then I flicked off of it the base for this year was 7,75 should have gone my gut so 7,75 and it you multiply that by the 0.25 weight so 7,75 I would leave to this

184gets really boring I promise is $1,768 that is a loss for each one of the students each one so it is a three, 440,000 loss just in a change in safe economically disadvantaged yes it's going to go up a little bit as the year goes on because we have gone back and tracked and done a good job to make sure students who are free to one we've gotten those numbers up as a Year's gone on but that first reporting period as kids are filling out their forms takes it drops your number will get it will what is it Kelly it's about 7,000 right at 7,000 right now so not a huge jump but still Yes M thank you mad chair uh Dr Sullivan with everything that's going on in California I'm thinking that the insurance

185companies are going to just be meeting in their non-existence home in the driveway and handing out checks and I suspect we will be seeing a trend coming here have you looked at anything in that no it's kind of get into our R in just a second because I may be able to offset I have not that very goodidea what could offset that if you go to the next page concentrated poverty how one can go down 23% and the next one go up 56% I have absolutely no idea it is a state coding thing we jumped in concentrated poverty which means how many of your schools are eligible for Title One funds so you see a huge increase of 12,44 students unfortunately that direct or that weight is only 5% so it's going to cover quite

186a bit um but it's a 5% compared to 25% sorry was it 12,000 yeah we went up 12,44 students we went down we went down almost 2,000 on the other one 2 25 12000 into 5% so it's a it's yep um so we will gain some of that money back so um I was just doing doing my maap over here next you'll see small and sparse which we are not I don't think that's a shock to anybody and then the next group is not a big thing I just want everybody to have what the percentages are for our students so skip down to sped options and I just want everybody to have what percentage this is so sped option one is 15% of the base and so these are your students who are Eng gifted

187uh as we go down the list it is more services that we are providing so sped option one is 15 sped option two is 20% sped option three is 40% option four is 60 option five is 70 option 6 is 75 option 70 is 80 option 8 is 100 option n we don't have any students but it's 125 option 10 is 150 English learner tier one I don't think it's a surprise that jumped 20% English learner tier 2 is 60% English learner tier three is 70% and then this is a a Statewide Trend characteristic dyslexia is dropping and that's a excuse me a 20% um weight so we should get our first actual Tissa estimate with all these numbers plugged into it in February that's what's been done the last two years I haven't seen

188the state actually confirm that yet but that is usually what happens we get it in February the other thing I would hit at is that you'll see grade 11 and 12 ADM you look down direct inputs this is where we're seeing growth in high school so it's just 11 and 12th grade is growing at the high school level and so that's that's where we're seeing a difference grade K through three is a little bit skewed um our charter schools opened and R for Collegiate prep opened this year um we can now we can't see whether for Collegiate Prep students but based on the students we have we know there was an influx of our students and in Murphy's Boro city as well that is attending those schools and so if you scroll or scroll if

189you go to the second to last page you'll see Charter ADM is 822 and so there are 822 students that are in Charter Schools two of we of course track enrollment Springs and American classical we can see enrollment brother for Collegiate prep we cannot but knowing the other two it are about 200 between 180 and 220 a piece these first four reporting periods there were about 400 students um rather the Collegiate prep was higher at the beginning so I have I need to see the the rest to see where I say we actually lost students is if you go to that very beginning and see 51530 that includes the 822 Charter students to the best of my knowledge right now I have not confirmed that yet with the state department I'm waiting because this is

190our first time to actually see one of these with Charter School students in it so we'll wait to see our actual T sets Okay uh on that particular this just the charter schools that we've approved it's not no this includes R for Collegiate prep oh really and so this would be a perfect example where we talked last year about Murphy's Boro City students that last year Murphy's City should have been able and no disrespect to them but we funded Upfront for all students and there's a year Gap so there's hopefully we can talk of our legislators about that there is a gap being the county Lea when kids from another school system not the county El definitely but just want yall to see nothing major in here just wanted yall to see kind of where

191we were where weing also want to thank our bus drivers apparently you guys were at the the hill trying to talk about Tisa funding and adding Transportation so 100% agree thank you for doing that thank you for doing that it's a great place to to advocate for you almost got me off task over here which would have got me yelled at well Mr Vault you ready to give us okay you'll give us a federal last 4 hours only thing I would add is that in the state department this is State Department created that we may ask to get our legislators help and to follow through the right chain which is technically Dr Duke is our toss um person that meets with the commissioner next week we have some sped licensure issues in our hardest staff

192areas right now um that is a state department created issue they have changed a lure requirement that may cost some of our staff have to go back to school and they're the ones that we have the hardest time staff structure setting feers it's not a federal requirement it's not a state requirement it is totally a new state so it's are very very up in arms about that would say Okay M sh thank you madam chair um I don't know if we need to put this on the policy committee meeting but I I I can make a motion now that we require any Charter Schools going forward that they use the same operating systems that we used yes that's okay so would youy would you put that on the policy meeting please ma'am okay uh and

193secondary um if our wonderful staff James Evans and crew could put together maybe a 30 second um commercial aiming at the teachers in California because they they probably are able to see some kind of electronics is we're not going to be able to put any kind of mail or anything like that but I would like to pick some of their teachers off some of their good teachers hey let's just get hey let's get ahead of the T let's get ahead of everybody else having the same idea return and ask put something on social media to go out even if it's Instagram or something like that okay is there anything else yes M yes thank you um Dr Salin I just want to tell you something you deserve an apology you really do see when I

194ran on this seat I ran because with one thing in mind and that was to help kids regardless of socioeconomic um ethnicity to get the best possible education and um and when I ran I ran as a republican because why not doesn't matter um people should know how I run how I vote however when it comes to dealing with education and changing the elections to be partisan what's created is that now everything is about the politics instead about really about what's the most important things in educating our children so they can get the best possible education regardless of whether they are in the social economic and you were correct because you said to me a while back that the politics was going to come intervene and take away from the important needs and issues that

195are impacting right here wetherford County within our children and for that I want to publicly say to you that I apologize and you were correct second of all if we were um if we were to have a resolution of some sort and we're going to be sitting in the seat to make decisions for teachers um students um and even among family members I feel I feel I still I do think that regardless of where you're at in your occupation even if you have if you are working full-time or not but if you're going to be sitting making these decisions that you should be required to volunteer some hours and be inside the classroom and spend some time in instruction in what the teachers are going through with the diversity that's happening in the classroom so

196that so that you can get a different perspective of what what it's like truly to making decisions that's going to be impacting all these kids cuz when I ran I had no desire and well I don't want to say no desire but had no idea that everything was going to change literally um um the month that I got elected and with that I started volunteering and substituting at the classrooms and the perspective has changed because you get to meet the kids and your in front of them all the time and you understand that when you impact them who's truly needing to have a voice that don't have a voice and um and thirdly um I had a little bit of an issue with this resolutions we called it Dei but because that's what the politics

197say but the section that we were going to remove really didn't talk about diversity equity and inclusion at all cuz I had made some um conversations about that and so I had a hard time trying to put this section of a code to label it as Dei simply because it's just trying to bring awareness and promote diversity diversity is a good thing when I went to public school a lot of people don't even know this I was the only Hispanic in the entire classroom and entire high school for um for many grades I didn't have a teacher that looked like me that sounded like me I was pretty much in a little island and as a child growing up it was really really hard for me to feel how identifi I think I should bring

198this up I have never in my life been in a country where it matters what your skin color is I grew up in Puerto Rico the skin color didn't matter I come here and it was difficult I had to pick between different camps am I with the white or am I with the blacks am I with this and as a child who's Hispanic and a little girl that is very traumatizing extremely extremely traumatizing to trying to figure this out and trying to do your very very best and to have a policy that says we're going to remove diversity because we think that we are hiring and trying to eliminate the best and just meeting quotas for me that is just really hard to um swallow a little bit knowing that when I know when knowing

199that no one has really walked a mile in my shoes when it came to what it's like to be in the public school system where I had no one absolutely no one that spoke Spanish that had that understood what the cultur awareness of my culture um it's hard on a child and when I teach now and we we're having Black History Month right now it was um it's really amazing to talk to kids to see kids nowadays because it's very different the diversity that we have in a school is very very different than when we had in when we were when I was growing up when it was growing up I was diversity that was it besides what um whites and blacks but now when you come to school it's a beautiful rainbow you've got

200kids that are from Iran you've got kids that are from South America you have kids that are white you have kid you have kids that are black and when I talk to them and bring up about Martin Luther King I don't talk about the fact that there was racism and that we were stuck back there because there was slavery I tell these kids do you know why you are here right now in this classroom with boys and girls that look different than you is because of someone like Martin Luther King who was able to come and break those barriers and it was and it took a lot of Bravery to do that and because of that we are here in this classroom sharing and talking and experiencing diversity and I'm telling you and I'm able

201to tell them that the American dream that a lot of people come to is attainable for everybody so I just wanted to share this with you guys um I just right now I just feel that we need to get back in the business of education and let's worry let's let's let the lawmakers handle all that National politics stuff and that we concentrate nothing but what's important here in the local schools Mr one of course I know if I was getting sleepy but when up to the uh new elements in BO beautiful I mean it's it's really well designed and man I tell you it's just amazing me how a skill the people that put that school together and you know it's so important for to uh that we teach vocational skills to our kids because

202man I tell you what to build build a school like that is just amazing to me uh two store it's SCH um just some curiosity where do uh where do we give a school L to assistant principls I talked to Mr E he was up there with me already trying to get a second assistant princip he can get one and a half when he reaches a th000 students so he you know and D he's been up there two days driving out there I'm telling you driving out there I'm telling you there going to be nbor hoods that are just I mean gosh they going up everywhere and I okay from up black m time you open at that first door they going to be knocking the doors then cuz it's a good scho to come

203to so that everything R move to Journey thank you [Music]