001first up Pledge of Allegiance Miss Darby I believe Dr G has some eighth graders to lead us in the pledge tonight I'm very pleased to have two exceptional eighth grade leaders in our school who will come lead us in the pledge we have Clare Morgan and Alex Comfort I pledge alance 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 next we have a moment of silence could you bow your heads please thank you next up we have the approval of the agenda do I have any comments or questions I've got one Madam chairman okay yes sir I would like under the policy changes policy D 6313 Spectators to send that back to policy committee because that
002is not what our Middle School principles are wanting so I'd like to send it back it the way it is worded they would have to have parents for their own kids to attend their own games so I'd like to send that back doesn't make sense yeah okay any other comments or questions I'll entertain a motion motion to approve second second Mr tiwall all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes next we have the approval of the consent agenda do we have any comments or questions I'll entertain a motion so move have Miss Darby and then seconded by Mr vau all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes next we have a special guest with us miss Darby uh Dr G with Thurman princes Arts Academy if you want to come to
003the podium and in introduce our special guest this evening this is a very proud moment for me um if you take a look at these students this is the reason why we're here this is the future of R County we have exceptional students who do exceptional things and I'm so proud of them tonight our uh chorus will be singing America and America the Beautiful and then they uh our strings will be doing Mozart's Symphony 40 uh 40 is correct is that right number 40 there we go I'll let the music expert keep me in line on that but again I'm very proud to be able to serve with these students this is the reason why we're here amazing group of kids who believe in what they do and we believe in them and so without
004further Ado I'm going to let them perform [Music] swe ofy of I [Music] see the [Music] [Applause] [Music] Beau for spous guys [Music] for for the M [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] mes his on and C my with Brotherhood from to shining SE [Applause] [Music] y [Music] [Applause] the [Music] [Applause] [Music] all [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] give just a minute to make your [Music] wa for for is that everybody ready soon as everyone gets situated we'll move to the next part of our meeting wish I had brought my popcorn machine yes yes please there's a few more chairs up here at the front for for there's just a few more chairs here at the front if you all standing at the back would like to come up front okay
005hopefully everybody's situated now next we move on to the next part of our uh meeting which is public comment and we have 10 speakers first up we have Miss Lindsay Schultz we have three minutes um dear R County school board members my name is Lindsay Schultz I'm the owner of the spine book shop here in smna Tennessee and I stand before you today to express my opposition to the ongoing book Banning um and I've been listening to the disrespectful comments that have been made to you board members as well as the differing opinions that have been shared um however there is an essential issue that must be addressed and that's the profound impact books have had on individuals who experience trauma as a survivor of a violent sexual assault that resulted in a black eyon
006stitches in my face I personally understand the power of literature in helping individuals process and heal from traumatic experiences books were crucial in helping me navigate my trauma teaching me that I was not alone and that the assault did not not Define me removing these books that you label pornographic and filth will deprive others of the Solace and healing that they so desperately need books that address difficult topics provide essential tools for recognizing and discussing trauma empowering both our children and adults to protect themselves and to communicate their experiences to people that can help them by restricting access to these invaluable resources you are doing way more harm than good and ignoring the existence of the traumatic events does not make them disappear it only makes people like me feel more alone and helpless and
007instead of banning these books Let's embrace them as Educational Tools to facilitate very important conversations and Foster understanding books that reflect diverse experiences and address sensitive topics like sexual assault are crucial for cultivating empathy and resilience they help us navigate the complexities of life and remind us that we can overcome even the most challenging circumstan es and at the end of the day everyone has a right to access these books it's up to the parents respectfully not the school board to make the decisions and um restrict their children their children's reading material we need to trust our Librarians with the education that they have earned to correctly cultivate a reading curriculum for our children instead of trying to politicize it parents have access to the reading list that their children are given so that they
008have the information as well which offers the parents the opportunity to choose what their children are allowed to read and I implore you to recognize the life-changing power of literature by keeping these books accessible to people like myself let's work together to ensure that those who need them most can find Comfort guidance and hope within the pages and please remember the world is watching you thank you next up next up we have joy Warren good evening I appreciate the opportunity to bring you greetings from public school strong a Statewide campaign advocating for honest Equitable fully funded safe Public School we have 28 chapters and growing across the state from Greenville to Memphis my name is Reverend Joy Warren a local Minister and parent of two recent graduates of Rutherford County Schools I began watching Schoolboard
009meetings in 20120 as we were all watching to see the difficult decisions that you had to make during the covid pandemic one thing that I truly appreciate about these meetings is the way you feature the amazing things going going on in our schools in your Rutherford proud or Rutherford strong moments I have learned about Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence award-winning musical groups and choirs interesting a and CTE programs exciting challenges like the amazing shake and BizTown Innovative Pathways to teaching like the grow your own program skilled teamwork displayed in our group and individual Sports programs fantastic dedication and accomplishments in our jroc programs there are so many things that happen in our schools that cause us to have pride in our district I appreciate how each one of you invite students and groups to participate
010in these sessions so that you can highlight the awesome things that are happening here in Rutherford County Schools I want us to keep all these programs and awards in mind as we consider that the very first bill filed for the 2025 legislative session is a Revival of the voucher Bill we defeated earlier this year I was so proud that this board worked together to pass a strong resolution against those vouchers I met with legislators in other areas of the state and found that they support you and agree with you in fact over 70 school boards across the state passed resolutions against the vouchers rural urban it was clear that no one besides outof State agitators wants this program we worked together to defeat the voucher Bill last legislative session and we will do it again
011Public School strong is asking our County Commission to make their own resolution in support of yours to let our legislators and Governor know that we stand United with you to protect our school funding and these wonderful programs that bring joy enrichment and hope to our students and wider Community thank you for what you do as advocates for public schools and congratulations Dr Sullivan on your recent award thank you thank [Applause] you next up we have Miss Elizabeth Shephard [Applause] thank you for the opportunity to address you all tonight I'm here as a parent of a student detecting Blackman High School and also as an educator with over 10 years experience as a school librarian Tuesday morning my phone started buzzing with the first text from fellow Librarians sharing their shock over an email that went
012out to the middle and high school librarians everyone was trying to make sense of what was happening Their Fear confusion and frustration were evident and every single conversation I had that day Librarians had to drop everything they were doing no more checking books in and out no answering questions or assisting with research not able to do the jobs they love to do some even had to shut down their libraries for the day instead they had to make their first priority book removal not just taking them off the shelves but also taking them out of the hands of students a process that is literally heartbreaking as a librarian imagine those students being made to feel as though they did something wrong being called out of class and forced to turn over their library book having to
013explain to their friends what just happened wondering if they can trust their librarian anymore or if their library is still a safe place this occurred due to the absence of clear policy concerning a new development in the state law on what is age appropriate for Library materials to be fair board policy already has in place a solid fair and well-designed process for addressing book complaints except it seems when it comes to this new Uncharted situation I watched the board discuss postponing the creation of new policy until clarification came from the state yet board members pushed ahead and submitted over 150 titles that in the absence of clearboard policy were immediately removed from library collections with nothing but a claim that they violate this new law by this logic any parent student or School employee could
014do the same we could potentially end up with nothing on the shelves for our students to read if we're willing to allow one person with the list to hold our books and libraries hostage absence of clear policy does not make these actions fair or just to our students did you know it takes an average of eight hours to read or listen to a chapter book cover to cover if you devoted One 8 hour day to each book on this list you'd be spending the next 5 months doing nothing but reading not to mention the time you need on top of that to evaluate what you've read and make a determination are you as the ones who have the final say prepared to put in that time to give each of these books the careful attention
015they deserve investing in every student every day that's the new mission statement you're approving tonight how is denying students the right to read books investing in them if we remove every book where characters don't look or act like a few people think they should are we really investing in every student this list and others like it are waste of the County's time and resources I'm asking for the board to develop a clear policy to address this as soon as possible so we can all get back to investing in every student every day thank [Applause] you next up next up we have Amber Sky Mich not sure I said it right sorry it's Amber sky mnich and I am a local author here in wford County a mama four and the wife of a public school
016teacher um I also have a story um as an author of a little girl who didn't have her biological father because he left when she was an infant who was sexually assaulted by her stepfather and then as time grew up and I found books in my public library like impulse and Crank by Ellen Hopkins that had this content in them I found myself thinking this is all I'm good for is this pornographic material and so after I would go after I would read sections like this I would sneak out of my bedroom in the middle of the night and look stuff up online and talk to people online who I shouldn't have been I'm pretending to be an adult slipping down a path that said I am worthless and this is all that I'm good
017for these books do try to address some traumatic events to help people who don't quite understand what is going on but they can cause more harm than good that story is my story but it's not actually my story because it's Jesus's story and this is not the end of my story everyone knows John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have a life eternal life for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God and this is
018the Judgment the light has come into the world and the people loved the darkness rather than the light because their Works were evil for everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his Works should be exposed but whoever does what is true comes to light so that it may be clearly seen that his Works have been carried out in God I was one who hated the light and loved the darkness it was not until I had a mentor come into my life who loved me enough to let me hate her and tell me the things that I was doing the things that I was reading were wrong that I came to repentance and came to know the light and the truth Set Me Free is it appropriate
019for children to be able to read these materials that choice needs to be given to the parents if these books are in the school board if these books are in our school libraries kids can go behind their parents' backs to check them out we don't want to restrict books these books are in our public libraries they are in bookstores they're important to have it's good to have freedom of the press but letting parents have the choice of what their kids can access in a children's only area only makes sense heck when Blockbuster was still around they had a little room to the side that was four adults only that's what we're asking for I don't want students to go into our libraries and be able to just pick up a random book and flip through
020this and then feel the [Music] shame thank [Applause] you next up we have James oex before I um can you hear me okay yes I can hear you before I start my time I just wanted to say thank you for sharing Lindsay and and uh it was Elanor right Amber I'm sorry um I know that that's hard to share and I don't I don't think anybody needs to go through that and I feel I'm so sorry that you had to go through that so first off I just want to share that um I'm obviously here to talk about the book ban I think that um we need to pull the curtain back on this just a little bit just to make sure everyone's aware of what's going on I think that um there's a lot
021of talk about this being politically charged and it is right and there I think people who argue that it's they're correct right people want to hide this under the guise that it's a First Amendment violation to ban the books um you know ironically there's there's organizations such as the ACLU who fight for this to be not a thing to not ban the books right but that that's the same organization that's um they're extremely Progressive in their in their ways on their website you know the first thing that pops up is donate to our campaign we want to promote abortion rights we want to promote trans rights and all those things right and so this is politically charged and so I don't want anybody to think that it's not right this is this is beyond just
022right and wrong but um you know looking at a couple of things I I want to share a couple of quotes here so first off from the w v news from Stan bot I don't want my tax dollars nor yours nor anybody else's to go to defend a frivolous lawsuit if we can avoid it I do not think that shielding children from sexually explicit material is frivolous I completely deny that and I reject that claim this matters and this matters for children and I think that in the case of children who are subjected to terrible things that there are other ways besides books where there are not supervised to find help for that matter Stan also went to argue that the removal of these books it almost reminds me of 1930s Germany just a little
023bit where if we pull them out of our libraries where are we going to pull them out next so you mean to tell me that the filtering of sexually explicit books is resemblant of Nazi Germany and are you are you willing to stand by that as you oppose the members who who vote to remove these books a further a further quote I can't tell parents how to raise their children I'm not going to it's not my job and you're absolutely correct but on weekday children spend more of their waking hours at school than with their parents so it's it's an issue of the welfare of these children is 100% within your job responsibility and saying that it's not is wrong um furthermore the First Amendment does not prevent school officials from determining that the POS
024permission of sexually explicit language and vulgar or lewd speech undermines the school's basic educational Mission Additionally the First Amendment also does not permit a teacher or librarian to introduce sexually explicit material to children that is and always should be the express right of the parents lastly to conclude I'm here to advocate for the removal and prevention of books that contain sexually explo material I do not wish to censor material relating to highly controversial historical items such as slavery racism or politics but I know that if we if we are to continue removing books I think Beyond a yes vote is deserved a justification for why because a yes is not enough thank you thank you [Applause] next up we have xan [Applause] Lasco uh thank you all for the opportunity to speak tonight I'm a
025retired High School Librarian from Rutherford County Schools as I've stated before and let me just first say that every parent parent at every school in this county has the right and enjoys that right to go and decide what their kids can read they just have to have a discussion with the librarian that's always been the rule just saying after watching the work session on Tuesday night there are questions and about comments made that I believe need to be answered before sweeping judgment is made on 150 books some of these were taken out of the hands of students which is really sad uh first where did the list come from it is my understanding that Mrs Rosales was the member who fored the list but I'm asking where did she get the list more importantly who
026produced the list and what are the motives and or training of the person who made such a list I can tell by looking at the list whomever it is has not read these books there are books that are on the list that will not meet the Tennessee code that was used to remove them for example this book heroin by Minnie mcginness an author who came to see our high school students last year she's wonderful and kids love her this is a homonym she is the heroine of this book she had a tragic addiction because she had an accident in a car and she becomes the light for kids later on this there's no sexually explicit material in this there is also a high percentage of lgbtq books on this list why is that second how
027many of these 150 books have been read or will be read before the December 5 meeting if you want your constituents to trust you then you must use due diligence when a list is put forth and the book has not been read or even looked at you are doing a disservice third it was mentioned that Librarians could use a website to check the up search to judge a book as I stated in September this is not how Librarians v books this is not best practice and this district has employed professional Librarians in addition books on these websites are generally old these are not new releases books being ordered with the mature content on the cover was also brought up I've never seen a book or heard of a book that came to a school like
028that if so you'd likely see that that same way in bookstores and finally a comment was made that members of the board heard a representative during the recent Retreat state that Tennessee will continue with this until they are suit if the state wants to continue in this manner then this is one thing however our students librar staff and taxpayers will be the ones harmed if there is a protracted lawsuit against our district is that how the board wants to spend our dwindling budget the textbook commission can take up these books if the board doesn't decide in 60 days why not let them do that thank you thank [Applause] you next speaker is Mr Robert Brooks hello and good evening thank you for allowing me to speak um you know I wasn't going to talk about
029this tonight I was going to talk about something totally different but I just can't get away from this book thing uh cuz as I'm standing in the back of the room a friend text to me and said I am absolutely pissed and I'm like from what like what's going on and she tells me about this book that her daughter has to read in a class in one of our public schools and she looks it up and she gets the information and it talks about fair play now my friend is a a very devout Christian Christ follower and of course she immediately tells her daughter no thank you but the problem is here is we continue to have these problems and the problem starts right here at these tables thank you Mrs Rose Alis for submitting
030the 150 books but I believe that that just created more of a mess you talk about we talk about being together as a community but that does nothing for the community you talk about wanting to do things to keep everybody together but it continues to cause division so what I did was I went to your policies and I I don't know how many of you have checked out your board member policies but you should go to the website and look at them especially you guys that are new okay so here's policy 1.102 and at the bottom it has this thing that you're sworn in with it says I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of Tennessee and the laws governing the operation
031of the Rutherford County school system and that I will faithfully zealously and impartially discharge Char the duties of a member of the Rutherford County Board without fear or favor and for the public welfare well my friends I had to tell you remember there was this big chatter about this being the first Republican board right and so we stand as a party of Republicans and we're supposed to do things right but you don't enact on the law and you don't put it at the Forefront that is not upholding the constitution of our great nation and it's def itely not holding to the laws and the constitution of our great state shame on you it is your job to protect these kids there's no way that my daughter is in a public school and is able to
032check out a book that talks about people doing things to animals are you kidding me please no no please be respectful I was respectful when you no comments from the gallery you want a policy put it in place the law the state law they've given it to you already just put it in and do what you need to do stop skating around this thing [Applause] thank you thank you thank you next up we have Brian [Applause] Shuster can you guys hear me okay yes yes okay thank you good evening my name is Brian Shuster I and those wearing white tonight are concerned parents and members of the community who want the Purity and innocence of our children protected in our schools on Tuesday as it's been mentioned Miss Rosalez submitted a request for 150 books
033to be reviewed and voted on for REM removal for from our district this is surprising in light of the fact that she withdrew herself from voting on sexually explicit books in September so either Miss Rosalez has had a change of heart and taken it to an unhealthy extreme or she has other ulterior motives in light of the spectrum of policy of possib abilities I'll ask M rales to plainly State her intentions tonight and clear the air in front of everyone here publicly my comments are not limited only to Mr rales many of our board members Proclaim to be Christians personally I am encouraged by this profession of Faith to me this means you claim to believe in and practice the values prescribed in the Bible and by Jesus Christ himself I commend you for that
034there is no better model for how we should live than by following his example the Bible provides a great deal of Direction about maintaining innocence Purity and caring for our children Proverbs 4:23 says above all else guard your heart for everything you do flows from it Jesus own words in Matthew 18 says if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin it would be better for you to have a large Millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea 2 Timothy 3 says and in the last days there will be very difficult times for people will love only themselves and their money they will boast be boastful and proud scoffing at God disobedient to their parents and ungrateful they will consider nothing sacred
035they will be unloving and unforgiving they will slander others and have no self-control they'll be cruel and hate what is good they will betray their friends be Reckless be puffed up with pride and love pleasure rather than God the they will act religious but they will reject the power that could make them Godly for those on the other side of this debate I have some questions for you why is it that you demand our children be exposed to perversion and sexually explicit content why is it your goal to remove their innocence and Purity what do you have to gain from this I am not demonizing anyone here but I will call attention to the demons behind this perers movement they have no place in this County no power over our children and I pronounce them
036banished cast out into darkness and gone in the name of Jesus Christ through the power of his blood sacrifice which sets all of us free if we will accept it for ourselves thank you for your time I am praying for you amen [Applause] thank you thank you next up we have daffany [Applause] gamble I recently learned that RCS removed over 100 books from school libraries some of these books include A Clockwork origin Catch 22 which are commonly included in school curriculums the lovely book bones which has previously been reviewed and determined to have literary value by RCS speak a semi-autobiographical work work about the trauma of being raped which has won multiple Awards and none of the above which as far as I know was the only book with interex reputation in my school's library
037many of these books have lgbtq characters these books were removed without being discussed at a board meeting and I highly doubt they were thoroughly reviewed considering the volume of books that were removed there has been little to no transparency about the book removals if you were truly following the wall law why would you need to be so secretive and you and are you going to remove every single book that discusses sex regardless of liter literary or scientific value some of these books discuss difficult topics that that doesn't mean they're not important topics books like speak in 19 minutes help teens like me understand and process difficult topics removing every single book containing sex would decimate the historical and biological Collections and leave students without resources for deal with important topics as there are some topics
038that cannot be discussed without discussing sex I understand wanting to follow the law the tendency age appropriate materials Act is unconstitutional and superseded by the Miller test I hope you will consider putting these books back on the shelves thank you for your time thank you next up we have all Maxwell good evening my name is Austin Maxwell and I am the husband of your chairwoman you may be asking why is the spouse of a board member addressing us board member Darby's father addressed the board several weeks ago s felt it would be okay for me to do so this evening but in a positive manner I want encourage you as a board to support each other and to be open to other board members ideas while supporting our director of schools I believe that the
039citizens of ruford County have the best director of schools in the state the state it is a miracle that he is here given the turmoil that he and his family have gone through and I speak from experience on that given what my family and I went through when my son Mitchell passed away I support you Dr Sullivan and I want you to know that a majority of your board members support you as well as elected officials you will not make everybody happy and you will have your detractors who will want to come up here during public comments and grand stand during their three minutes on television along with emails social media taxs and so forth that is their right but do not take the bait and respond whether they be from the left or the
040right or the middle smile and stay focused on what you think is best for our students our teachers our parents and our staff I also want you to focus on the numerous and important tasks before you yes you are an all Republican elected school board and yes the county voted read the tune of 59% last Tuesday but I want to encourage you to find solutions that can work for everybody in this County I watched your work session on Tuesday night and it was encouraging to see you discussing restricted reading list with parental consent or putting the work of book review on your outstanding Librarians to make a recommendation back to you as board members as Mr Tidwell pointed out perhaps it should be three choices back to the board such as keep remove or restrict
041with parental consent needed an approach like that taken a few weeks ago may have avoided the inevitable lawsuit that is most likely coming to the board and the County and taxpayers like myself lastly I would simply ask that you be nice to each other you don't need to enlist people to come up here and praise you when you were attacked you don't need to hold up signs disparaging other board members you don't need to get family members or others to come up here and chastise the board work it out and have the honest dialogue as board members with each other and focus on the task ahead of you such as finding land for schools expanding our existing schools creating worldclass CTE programs and continuing to create an environment where Rutherford County schools are second to
042none thank you and may God bless [Applause] you next up we have Rutherford strong strong hello thank you uh it's hard to follow all that but I'm happy to try okay I do my best so the first thing that we're going to do tonight is we're going to honor one of our chefs from our high schools and I know chef pennix from Blackman where are you Chef you behind me here somewhere hopefully come on up start making your way sound like the Oscar so Chef pennix is in charge of calling the Arts at Blackman High School and just so I can give you an example of the kind of man he is and the program that he leads uh for several years we have done a uh United Way lunch for our central office here
043for those who contribute to the United Way campaign and we would we would rotate around at different schools and ask their conal a arts program to maybe come prepare the food for us one year though he goes hey we would love to do it and just do it from now on and so they have done that for several years now the meal is always wonderful we've not thrown anything at him yet so far that he can't cook or this his students can't cook we had a very lovely potato bar this year it was phenomenal people raved about it and so just that commitment and seeing students The Pride they take in their work it's just been phenomenal so he's here tonight and where's Tyra is Tyra here come on Tyra I'm GNA let Tyra introduced
044uh like many of our teachers that we get to do this every month um he has won a state level award not just for schools it's for something larger and Tyra's going to tell you a little bit more about it and then Chef pennix is going to tell you about his program his approach and talk to you about one of his students here and as Tyra's doing that as a board member if you've never gone to a Blackman High School graduation um I encourage it because they do an amazing job preparing food for you before graduation delicious thank you well I am super proud of Chef pinx he very much deserved the award the industry educator of the Year by the Tennessee hospitality and tourism Association he was up against not just high school he
045was up against College professors and Industry people and he won and I tell you the um care and the um all of the things that he does with his children and the skills that they are learning it's going to change their life and I know we um actually used him for um one of our state uh CTE director meetings when we meet with legislators Blackman High School comes in and they cater the breakf breakfast for us and you've done that two two years and they're already on the docket for the next one in February um the kids are so professional and the way that he trains his students is I mean it's better it's just great we have seven culinary programs in retherford county and he is our CTE PLC lead so he helps lead
046the other we have 14 uh culinary teachers across the district and he helps lead them with curriculum and the things that they do other catering opportunities and things that they do and so we are so proud of him it's deserved he also um one other thing he also works I meant to bring this told him I was going to he also works with other programs within Blackman High School so they have a very uh robust Audio Visual and broadcasting program at Blackman so they built a studio where they can actually do cooking shows and if you watch it there's actually a backsplash that Rivals any that I've seen in most houses that Frank did himself for the thing he wanted to look like a kitchen so when you watch that PR progr you look like
047they look like they're in a kitchen it's the corner of a classroom that he is just completely Renova and turn of that and so it's that type of commitment that I was talking about it's not just to his students he wants to help all students benefit and grow and so we're going to let him talk now good luck following that okay all thank you Evans and Tower Pilgrim uh it's honor to be here um it was a very honor to get that award that I did not know about it was kind of I was told to be there and they wouldn't tell me why until it finally was given to me um I I look at my students and I say um you know I want you to I want you to become something and
048leave the school and do better um instead of asking them what do you want to do what do you want to change what do you want to make yourself known for um and then to do that I in tell uh a work athic ethic for them um I have students that show up at 3:00 in the morning at school um to work on a brece that you know we're heading to Nashville you know at 5:00 a.m. uh as a field trip and we're serving uh other people and that's some of the stuff we do but I couldn't do it without the students because it's their good dedication and their responsibility to actually show up and show them that they're ready for a job um I look at my seniors uh as is looking for job
049placement um I have students that not only graduated uh from black men but are now uh directors of uh industry places uh including like a nursing home um I have one in Franklin right now who is dedicated for that um and she's just 21 and now a director of a nursing home for the food and Hospitality um it's more of gearing the the students to that passion and one of our one of my students that is with me um which is also a level four a senior is Alyssa Glover and I actually had her sister as well both in the culinary program tell them about the program oh um just put me on the spot here um oh gosh you know I'm nervous what's the best thing you could tell them um oh okay so
050one of the things that we do that I like love to do I did last year for the first time was you do something called Cake Wars which it's it's really fun actually so we take um we are separated into groups when you get into the classroom and you can kind of pick your groups or he gives you groups but um it was actually very fun we had uh it was like a week-long thing where we all baked different cakes we came up with Concept ideas and when we finally baked our cakes and we finished them we even decorated them they were all super cute did I win no but it's okay it was probably one of my favorite things that I've ever done in any class in any in any any course um but
051one of the things that we did in Chef penni's class which is I've never done in any other class which I made a resume for the first time and I did that in Chef Pen's class because he thought it was an important skill to learn I haven't done that in any other class I haven't had a teacher sit down and say you're going to make a resume you're going to make sure it looks professional and you're going to make sure it looks decent this is going to help you get a job which he did the resume that I made helped me get my first job and well yeah oh yes I do actually have two different certifications all from Chef fin class um I am a food yeah see look he's so helpful um a
052food handler and I am a certified food handler manager yeah okay he's so helpful um and we did that all in Chef finix class we get about one quarter to take what it was like a 90 90 question test and you could only miss seven questions we passed it within you know less than an hour because we're just so awesome um as you can see students in this class get lots of confidence and that's good thing so we appre appreciate your coming and all the stuff that you do for students and for our staff so thank you congratulations thank you congratulations okay we also launched this year the strong outstanding staff Awards and we take nominations in four categories one being for support staff one being for someone connected to Transportation uh like a crossing
053guard or a bus driver a bus state things like that an ad administrator and also a teacher we recognized Miss Mayhew Santana Mayhew on Tuesday night she had to be here Tuesday she was the she is the attendant secretary at Rockville High School we've already done that one but we also these awards are sponsored by our partners over here at Sonic it's Chris Mr Chris braggin all right Alan Stewart is the other both partners with the sonics here in Murph or in Rutherford County uh they are sponsoring these Awards and providing gift cards to our winners each month we appreciate you coming here tonight they've been standing too for the last half hour so that's another thing um but the other three that we want recognize tonight and I'm going to read a little bit
054of their nomination Miss Judy Goodwin are you here than oh miss Goodwin Miss Goodwin was selected is principal her nomination says that she gives everything she has to Barfield Elementary School and and all who come inside and I can say that cuz she has been my principal for one of my children and the day that I had to tell her my child was not going to attend the next year it was like going into my mom's house saying I'm not coming home for Christmas it was a hard meeting I will tell you that yes uh she said why are you so nervous and I said you just don't get it so uh but it says she's an amazing example for everyone around her and has just been amazing example to other principles so thank you
055Miss Goodman we're going to do a photo in just a minute but I want to read the other two as well uh Dr Mike novic is here from kitro elementary school Dr noic uh his nomination the person nominating said Dr Novak is an amazing art teacher who always goes above and beyond for his co-workers and the students he checks him with the kids and make sure that they're doing okay he has a group of students that come to his Art Club he's always willing to jump in and help about other teachers he makes amazing artw work to display around the school building and inspires everyone every day R noic thank you can I add something to that let me add that I'd also like to say that he was an outstanding principal in another County
056and I have tried to convince him to go back into school leadership but he is a a true teacher and wants to be with kids and so greatly appreciate that all right the our bus driver this month is bus number 114 tshua Brooks uh it says that she is by far the best specializ driver this county has ever had she goes above and beyond to make sure that her students are taken care of she rewards her students for their good behavior and she is a great communicator for all of her families and they communicate well with her as well so Miss Brooks are you here all right great so board members we want to make sure you get your steps in today so we're going to stand up real quick and go over to the
057backdrop and get a photo with our winners if our Sonic Representatives would come up as well we're going to try to do this a little better this this month and we'll do this again in December for our November winners but thanks again to Sonic for supporting our schools uh and recognizing the value of having just great Community Partners [Music] okay guys ready okay make sure son [Music] I'm about to bust up this table I'm freezing turn it down turn it down Josh Josh she's got what yeah go ahead and call him up so Colonel Gaylord I know that you're here somewhere where are you there you [Music] are I just found out something what's that I did not know until um Conor Gallard and my husband deployed together oh wow uh this is um Colonel
058Jeffrey Gaylord there you go [Applause] he is our um leader of our JROTC program and I just went blank on completely what his official title is so I completely apologize for that but um he's here to present to us just kind of a state of our JC program and uh when he went over this data with myself and Dr Martin a couple couple weeks ago uh it is unbelievable the impact that our jotc students um year leadership and gentlemen women underneath your leadership and Miss Pilgrim also should be commended and Dr Chastain because J jrc falls under CTE which falls under Dr Chastain so it is a strange connection of how it all all your sir thank you Dr Sullivan members of the board uh Dr Sullivan on Tuesday night kind of messed up my
059presentation so I'm going to pick it off with this sorry so um I took I am your director of army instruction jrtc for Rutherford County Schools um it is my distinct honor to serve in this capacity when I took over in one July I had already had in my mind that I needed to Brand the jrtc program we have eight outstanding programs um eight battalions but we needed to be a brigade so I had a parent who's a graphic artist we started working on this in April and finished it up in about 3 hours thank you AI so we are officially called Stones River Brigade um this is our logo this is our patch um you can see by the patch itself we are in Middle Tennessee thus the large star in the middle and
060also the symbolism of having a National Battlefield right here in close proximity to all eight of our schools so that is our logo and each of our schools are battalions and they fall underneath the Stones River Brigade we needed leadership therefore in October we had a leadership board all eight schools were able to nominate Cadets their most outstanding Cadets we now have a Stones Brigade Commander a full birg Colonel Cadet type and an XO and a command sergeant major and they lead the Brigade they do all the presentations of awards at our compet itions they will be going to Awards programs and they're also working on process Improvement and best Concepts and ideas shared by all eight programs that was their idea and we're going to put that into action so um you've got a
061great program here and I'm just going to kind of give you a snapshot hit the high notes as George castanza would say so we'll go ahead and move on so as Dr Sullivan was saying each year I have an obligation to report to the director of schools on the state of the jrtc program and I decided rather than just providing a bunch of data and sheets I created a what my office created a brochure and it's about RCS jrtc we'll go back as we continue along as we're bringing this up um so that's what this brochure I go back to the previous page real quick and on the front page we also have our mission statements both the JROTC mission statement to motivate young people to be better citizens and also our Ruther rck County
062mission statement investing in our students for tomorrow's possibility if you look at those two statements I couldn't see two more well nested statements and missions that are putting our young people out there to be better citizens we'll go ahead and move along so Army jrtc is the only only jrtc program in the nation that is nationally accredited our governing body that accredit us is cognia that also requires us each year we inspect each of our eight programs through a very rigorous full day of inspection and the cadets produce briefings they do research projects they doing continuous Improvement projects and at the end of the day they receive a score in order for them to maintain their highest honors which is the HUD they have to score above a 95% I can tell you here today
063Rutherford County all eight schools are HUD schools so that speaks to itself going ahead jrtc goals okay it instills the values citizenship and service to the United States it also puts personal responsibility in a sense of accomplishment that goal right there we have a motto here in the Stones River Brigade instructor fed Cadet Le this is a Cadet Le program so I have to report on the state of our enrollment for 2425 so this year and this snapshot was as of one October we had 17,569 students in the county of that 1,256 of those were jrtc students in addition to that of course you know government they want to know the the demographics and everything else so we have a split 5347 male female I can tell you that that is much higher than our
064jrtc nationally a national average we have a very strong female Cadet population that compares to an overall 7.2% of our total population here in ruer County that is pretty sizable there are eight programs we have the blaze Battalion we have the Wolverine Battalion we have the Patriot Battalion and it goes on and so on and so forth and that forms the Brigade the other key thing that we report on up the chain is our jrtc graduates this is data that was based on last year's graduates as of June the 15th we had 167 graduates of that 97 of them were pursuing continuing education that could be 2year 4ye that could also be vocational school we also had 38 pursuing military and then we had 32 going right into the workforce as you can see by
065the pie chart that is a pretty good spread the huge takeaway here is we receive the cadets earned 152 scholarships last year that equals $4.2 three million in scholarship money now I can tell you what it costs R for County to put 19 of my instructors in those schools but I can tell you right now that is a return on the investment tfold and there's also a measurable returns of investment because these instructors are not only teachers they're coaches and their mentors just like coach penx and his team they take time before school after school on the weekends and they Mentor these young people to be outstanding citizens moving moving on to the other part Cadets in the community we highly encourage our Cadets to support community service which is a commitment to service above
066self last year they logged 8,732 community service hours outside of [Music] jroc if Mr Smith was here he would uh be very happy that happens to be the blaze Battalion that is their drill team their drone team and their Marksmanship teams at the sergeant major grade championships where they collected a large number of trophies and Hardware they're an outstanding program and they did very well last year and we've got more programs on the way going this year slide last thing or next to the last thing character and quality indicators we look at five things that really sets jrtc apart as you can see there daily attendance now these averages are based on schoolwide within Rutherford County and then all 8 jrtc programs 96.8% attendance only 10 Cadets had in discipline issues zero dropouts average GPA
067of a jrtc Cadet is 3.27 and the real takeaway ACT scores 21 1.9 again an incredible return on the investment slide last thing not only do we uh Mentor our students but we also coach them in a variety of extracurriculars we have uh two schools that participate in the Vex robotics tournaments and they went to the national championships in Dallas Texas last year we have a variety of kid all eight of our programs participate in our Raider program I'm going to digress here very quickly um I deliberately picked that picture right there that is from last year um because I could not get the pictures done in time because this had to be published we actually had three schools that competed that qualified and competed in the National Raider championships at Fort Knox Kentucky from
06827 to 29 October that's 54 states and territories Guam we had close to 4,000 Cadets and over 600 teams competing what did that competition look like on Friday they did a battle fit CH challenge where each of the team members had to do one minute of push-ups one minute of curl-ups and a one mile run they went to bed that night the next morning at 5:00 they began five different events and it was spread all through throughout the day they had a 5K run over varying terrains in Kentucky which took them off the reservation and back on they had CCR which is basically cross country rescue they also had personal um fitness test then they also had one rope bridge over a running creek and they finished out the day at the that evening um
069around 2200 I'm sorry around 10: CL uh the top school seven schools or top seven teams were notified that they would be competing in Ultimate Raider we had two teams qualify for that that was Rockvale and Blackman two girls from each team next morning at 5:30 they were up they had to be transported and they were at the bottom of a Hill Called missoury Hill for high schoolers and that misery Hill is a 40% grade and it's 800 M straight up hill they took off once they got to the top as a team they had to negotiate 12 obstacles as a team then once they completed that they were put in a holding Corral for a period of about 15 minutes and then they were launched on a 2m run with about a 14% grade
070all the way uphill to the parade field build at Fort Knox where they would finish but they had to divert at Mile 1.34 they got to go to the swimming pool and they got to jump in with full uniform and boots and swim 25 M get out and run the last quarter mod those girls finished third and seventh in that competition so that speaks volumes we do a variety of color guards we also have an incredible mark manip program throughout the county we also have the JB which is the picture to your my right your left um and that is the jrtc leadership academic ball team we had Blackman High School attend the national championships at American University in Washington DC they were there for 5 days and they competed and they finished in the
071top 25 teams in the United States the last thing is robotics I mean is drone we have now started a drone program competition drone program and we have three schools doing that last slide I promise RCS offers jrtc as a voluntary elective but we don't have a problem with getting students that want to be a part of this program the main thing that we have to constantly preach is there's no military service obligation this is a citizenship program it is a leadership program they can go into State local or national Civil Service they can go into the service whether it be through the officer route or the enlisted route and they can also go into Corporate America because the leadership skills that we provide them put them light years ahead of their contemporaries and they
072also earn all those additional credits that they don't have to take throughout the rest of their High School career and we provide everything to them at no cost because this is a cost shared program slide subject to that what are your questions or comments go ahead I just also want to give a um shout out even though he's not here Colonel Rector was our Dai last year and Colonel gayart of course is in our leadership now and taking us to new heights but I do think it's it's appropriate to recognize him for his hard work he retired on June 30th so yes thank you all very much have a wonderful thank you so much next up we have legal first we have a transfer student under discipline the board's been requested to admit a transfer
073student from another school system under discipline this student was remanded for possession of a THC product according to policy 6.31 18 the board may deny admissions of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another school system while under suspension or expulsion director of school school's recommendations to admit and place into alternative school however the board has any option to either admit deny as they see fit I'll entertain a motion motion to amend second second Mr vau all in favor say I I I any opposed motion passes number two the board's been requested do have been to transfer student from another school system under discipline the student was expelled for possession of a THC product according to policy 6. 318 the board may deny admissions of any student student accept those
074in state custody when a student transfers from another school system while under suspension or expulsion director of school's recommendation is deny but again the board can admit or deny as they see Fed I'll entertain a motion motion to deny second second by m Rosales all in favor say I I I any opposed abstain motion passes number three policy this is the policy adoption the first reading of two readings these policies below are recommended on the first reading policies will be brought at the next scheduled board meeting for a second and final reading do you want to do these individually as a whole how do you want to do past we've been doing them individually let just pass do them individually first one we have policy 1.82 Section 504 and ada8 grievance procedures streamlines language and
075policy to differentiate the grievance process under Section 504 and 88 and I entertain a motion move to approve second second by Miss sharp all in favor say I I I any opposed motion passes B policy 5302 is sick leave adds language to comply with the agreement mou with Rea I'll entertain a motion motion to approve Mr vaugh motion second second Mr Rosales all in favor say I I any opposed opposed Miss sharp Mr Tidwell opposed 52 motion passes C policy 5308 sabatical leave adds language to comply with agreement mou with Rea I'll entertain a motion motion to approve do I have a second second second Mr VA all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes and in the beginning of the agenda we moved policy 6. 313 back to policy so we'll move
076to e policy 6.38 bus safety and contact contact conduct extends time for recordings to 5 days and adds language for reporting and tracking of discipline on buses I'll entertain a motion move to approve Mr tidal second second by m Miss Derby all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes all right for the annual um policy Review tsba Board of distinction program recognizes school boards for their work and this is just FYI for those watching school boards that seek this designation must meet specified 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 manual tsba um helps with our overall maintenance um and so we are going to start looking at each individual area over the next couple months
077thank you number two engineering and construction smura Middle School sports request principal Dr Teisha Ferguson requesting to renovate the outdoor concession restroom build softball dugouts SE the stadium replace the softball scoreboard and add soccer scoreboards all work will be performed and funded by D Smith at no cost to the board engineering construction has reviewed this request and has no objection recommending motions to approve the midal request as presented move to approve second second M sh all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes next smna Middlefield house naming request Dr Teisha Ferguson's requesting to name the current football Fieldhouse the Allen Fieldhouse Mike and Ronda Allen are lifelong residents of Rutherford County and attended smyna middle and Smyrna High their sons attended the schools as well the Allen families family have contributed endless amounts
078of time money and resources to Rutherford County and especially SMA middle in the junior pro football league Mike coached in the league for 25 years and has held multiple board positions ronda's held several positions in public service has been a vital part of the education process in our County Mike's father red Allen was one of the original football club parents on the design and construction of the smrna Middlefield house through Mike and ronda's business Allen's Air Care they generously donated thousands of dollars to the upkeep and Improvement of this this field house Mike is currently a volunteer coach for the spidal football team recommended motions to approve the SMS Fieldhouse naming request as presented they're a wonderful couple and this is a wonderful thing so move have a second Mr vau second all in favor
079say I I I any opposed motion passes next we have number three mcfat score hammock reading Garden request principal Clark Blair is requesting to install a hammock reading Garden in the outdoor recreation area the estimated cost for this project is not to exceed $800 and to be funded by the PTO engineering construction has reviewed this request and does not have an objection recommend motions to approve the mcfaden hammock Garden as presented I'll entertain a motion so mode Mr B Mr B all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes next CTE multis school health science request CTE Department's proposing the renovation of the kitchenet spaces for Blackman Middle School with a cost of 20,000 eille school with a cost of 45,000 Rocky Fork Middle with a cost of 50,000 smna Middle with a cost
080of 47,000 seagull Middle with a cost of 20,500 lever Middle with a cost of 72,000 rcct department will be paying for construction installation cost of the kitchenet renovations using the funds made available through the tene innovative schools models Grant these Renovations will eliminate a barrier in adequately preparing students with basic life skills that are expected of all independent individuals who going to society engineering construction reviewed the request and has no objections recommended motion to approve the CTE kitchenet Renovations request is presented move to approve thank you Mr PA second Mr tidal all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes number 12 mission statement a new mission statement was discussed at the fall border treat October 18th 2024 the proposed mission statement is investing in every student every day recommending motions to approve the
081mission statement as presented I'll entertain a motion move to approve thank you Mr thank you Mr Rosales all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes 13 13 is the recommended motion of the annual agenda recommend motions to approve the annual agenda is presented um I do want to point out that is is one of the portions that is part of the director of schools evaluation in 5.1 all entertain a motion move to approve thank you Mr vau all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes number 14 14 is uh what we've done the last two years we have closed on Wednesday and no 27th the Wednesday before Thanksgiving I emailed the board today um the retherford county govern has already announced they will be closed so for us to close I
082have to have an official permission from the board to close our central office okay I'll entertain a motion move to approve Miss sharp for second all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes we greatly appreciate that thank you number 15 um we discussed this at the work session board member requested to discuss board meeting structures so anything else and we did next 16 financial report we did at the work session okay 17 director's update I would like to do after General discussion just as it is um some good news and celebration of how we are performed as a school system I think that'd be a good way for us to end um if that's all right with everybody okay thank you General discussion miss maswell m m Rosales thank you um I want
083to say something um but so bear with me um I want to also clear up some things one is that there was this conversation that there's these books that come automatically and they're just come from the sky well I've been in the publishing industry for a very very long time and I know that one thing is that when Publishers are wanting to um promote a particular book there may be Advanced readers or Galley books that they maybe presented because they're want to show what's coming to the pipeline it doesn't mean that these books are immediately put on the Shelf because they're not the sell on by date books and then secondly I also want to address some concern that I don't think it was intentional to talk about the way that Librarians look at books
084and approve and how their act and how they process and determine whether a book should be aailable or not that the process is not thorough because in all quite honestly if you've not been sitting in the side of the process from beginning to end it's a little bit and I know it was not intentional but it's a little bit insulting to the Integrity of the process because the process of how book is created to the point where it's comes to the librarian to the liaries what however deemed possible which The Librarians can speak to and go to that process it's a lot more thorough and they are not just um a review in in Amazon there's also reviews that come from places like Publishers Weekly where it's a highly esteemed acclaimed um review that a
085book and that if an author gets that that is that weight merites a lot so it's more to the process than saying oh they're just going to Amazon and looking at what says so I think there's some inconsistencies and so misinformation and how this process is is come about but I just wanted to say that last Tuesday we had a very good in-depth discussion about the books and the review process and it raised you know some very valid concerns and I understand that the Librarians have voice frustration partly due to the lack of guidance on how to handle library books in compliance with the state law and since Fe they have been tasked with reviewing over 30 books which detracts from the regular duties so to be fair changes to the law took effect in
086July 2024 while they were on summer break leaving them with only a week from August 1 to August 8th to prepare for the school year before student arrival in order to implement this law effectively I believe believe we must get provide clear Direction on how to proceed with compliance to the law options could include extending the compliance deadline to the end of the Academic Year to our district allowing liberians ample time to review materials without compromising other essential duties it's important to recognize that this posision requires a master's degree ref electing a level of expertise not easily replaceable speaking for myself and I believe the board will agree we're not questioning their professionalism or authority and we should respect their role as experts in assessing what is age appropriate therefore I propose that we give
087them until the end of the academic year to complete the first phase of reviewing their collections beginning with the 160 challenge books 10 from an earlier Challenge and the 150 newly challenged list these challenged books have been pulled from the shelves so we are compliant with the law any further book challenges could then be addressed additionally I recommend we offer A1 th000 compensation per liaran to support the work they are asking for guidance and it's important that we listen to them so with that I make a motion I move that we give our Librarians until the end of this Academic Year to review the challenge books 10 from an earlier challenge list and a 100 from a second challenge list and report to the board that their conclusions as to which of the challenge books
088should be removed or retained from school libraries under the standards establish in TCA 49-6 d383 and that each librarian receive additional compensation of $1,000 for the work on this project the board will then make a determination after receiving this report as to what books shall be removed or retained books that do not meet the standards established in TCA 496 3803 can be brought to the board to vote to put back back to put back once removed throughout the Academic Year and that's my motion do I have a second a second you Mr V discussion comments I have some questions um first off I I don't know who said that we they were using Amazon reviews so that's interesting um but it says since February Librarians have been tasked with reviewing 30 different books Dr Sol
089was that for age appropriateness or was that through the sexually explicit obscenity okay that the Librarians were not tasked with reviewing those books that was brought by me uh after reviewing some of the books myself and submitted by board members so I don't know that was part of the process as far as I guess I have a question are the 150 books as have we've talked about this here we talked about this at the work session we talked about this in September the 150 books that are being challenged are they being challenged for age appropriateness for obscenity or for sexually explicit material do you know Dr Sol sexually explicit is the way it was worded okay so if we have 150 books that are being challenged which seems like a lot um I don't know
090that waiting till the end of the year is the best way to do it but as far as breaking them up into smaller sections I would not be opposed to that maybe we're looking at 20 or 30 or something like that a month uh versus keeping the books well they've already been pulled but versus keeping books that might I mean from what I've seen uh which I haven't reviewed the whole list I'll say that what I've seen uh some of these books are certainly not going to meet the definition so for all the arguments made that we're pulling books and you know shouldn't be pulling books the books that I have personally submitted I have personally reviewed and I have made sure they met those definitions when I see a huge list like this it
091makes me question like what what is what is actually the the purpose and the intention especially after reviewing some of the books no and they won't meet that definition so if if we're talking about unity and compromise and finding the right way I think that possibly we could review a certain amount of these books maybe 30 a month we could possibly do um over the next five months and we can have as I mentioned at the work session Librarians potentially making a recommendation on their own so it wouldn't necessarily be a committee based but making recommendations through three different options back to the board and with that um I think we can get to the bottom that's a lot faster and the books that do not need to be removed are back on the shelves
092faster uh so I I don't know I that's that's my two cents on a matter um so I think it would probably make more sense to if if the motion is open to Amendment um make more sense to kind of speed this process along versus just kind of dumping in at the end Mr B I'll put my two sents in two um our L Bar are the literary specialist in our school system they probably know more about uh literary issues more so than I guess anybody in this County and I thoroughly um believe knowing the the that we have the best Librarians anywhere that you know the uh by them having to uh make sure that these books comply with the state law um I have the utmost faith and confidence in the decision the
093librarians make and come back to us with these recommendations um I don't know about the other board members but uh 150 books count comic books I a't read that many my lifetime but um you know it just uh it's going to be a challenge just the Librarians but I think they're the ones to help make us this decision in my opinion I value they're just thank you Miss Maxwell yes m r with all due respect Mr Tidwell the books that you had challenged were challenged on the the same thing sexual explicit also one of the books that we voted beloved technically should have not been removed moved why because there's a section part of the law about the curum aspect which is what has been asking the AG um I've been asking about is that
094if it's a book that has been adopted as part of a curriculum it doesn't qualify as part of the sexual explicitness because it's something that can still be um a book that can be assigned as assignment as can be assigned as a classwork assignment to students so there were certain things that we did that day that couldn't necessarily should have been removed so this gives time to thoroughly vet these books so don't we don't make hasty decisions and we allow the experts The Librarians to go through it right now the way that we do it is that we bring these books before us and then we make a quick decision there's no vetting of them there's no um there's no expert opinion weight on them except from the book reviews that are coming from booklook
095dcom those are the things that we receive even from your collection of what we got so this is a way to say to as a compromise and saying to our larians that we they're the experts let's listen to them they will give us a report and then we make the deter determination as defined by the law any other comments or questions yes Mr Tidwell uh respect respectfully uh still I think the comment that was made and I got a direct quote here is since February Librarians have been tasked with reviewing these 30 books and that that was simply the the distinction that I was making a difference in uh secondly I I I made the suggestion that we get Librarians involved from the beginning that they can be a part of the recommendation process um
096however I just don't understand why we're going to drag this thing out for so long there's a lot of people that probably disagree with me on the the outcome of some of these books but regardless I think there's a balance uh again as I mentioned multiple times that final say is at the school board that's where that final say is that's us the representative people the the reference back to book looks and letting the Librarians review them technically as our policy suggests all of these books have already been thoroughly reviewed so the ones that I have already submitted and brought to to you guys and which the district itself actually did removal near the beginning they had technically already been reviewed and yet they were still found to be sexually explicit so what I'm offering
097is if we're looking for a compromise if we're looking for some Unity getting the Librarians invol involved is certainly uh on the table far as recommendations go my question is why do we want to wait to the very end the reference back to beloved again we've had several legal opinions I've not seen a lawsuit about it uh so we've had several legal opinions that have said that the school library is what we're dealing with not things related to the curriculum we've dealt with that with the statute of David and arguments that are related back to the curriculum so again my push is if we're looking to try to get to the bottom this reasonably in a reasonable time fashion we we have people that want the book back on the shelves we have people that
098want the books off of the shelves but yet there's this huge amount let's do it in sections and doing in a reasonable amount we're going to keep saying well all right the Librarians are going to review these books they have already done that they've already done that I'm asking them to take a a what we're asking to do is take a more in-depth look at these books the content and any reference to any site I end with this um but the the reference to book looks or rate book books or any other site it is direct excerpts from the book it is not subjective opinions in the book the ratings are subjective but it is direct excerpts so I mean y'all heard the excerpts and and we've made decisions going back to the emotion I'm
099just asking that let's please as a balance and and unity here's an opportunity for us as a board to be unified let's break this up over several months and then possibly come to a better conclusion get back books in the libraries that were maybe put on this that won't meet the definition sexually explicit and then possibly have some that are removed that might meet the definition that's my proposal yes Mr my question would be what if um because some of them I agree will not meet the threshold um if we put a limit my worry would be we may find more than if we do 20 or 30 a month we may find more than 30 that don't meet the threshold and if we find more than 30 then I would want to have the
100option to be able to put more than 30 on an agenda to vote on so that that would be my only concern with that is M Maxwell yes Mr Tidwell I will tell you I have no problem with that M Miss Maxwell yes Mr Rosales the motion says that books that do not meet the standards established in TCA 496 3803 can be brought to the board to vote to put back once removed throughout the Academic Year so that solves the question they can bring the books any time if there is 15 books that they found on December I don't know next December 6th because they don't meet the threshold we can put it on the agenda and vote on it because it didn't meet so there shouldn't be any questions about what if there's a
101book that doesn't can we how quickly we can put it back the the pro the what this get it that what this does is to give the library to review it yes there is our excerpts that were taken from lookbooks but who reviewed those excerpts in book looks it wasn't our Librarians and I think that's where the frustration comes in they're saying to us they're the experts they understand this I'm saying let's give them this option whether we agree or disagree at the end of day we gave them that option we may agree and we may not but we gave them the option to look through the books and review them let Miss sharp go first thank you uh thank you madam chair um the problem with this um motion is that since the books
102were submitted I personally wouldn't have submitted that many at one time I would have waited until after the first of the year because we historically have been submitting five or 10 which is reasonable to be able to look at now that we have the 150 books they have to be actioned in 60 days correct or they if the original complaint in this situation would be Mr Rosales she would have to be the one to take them but yes they can be moved to the state after 60 days M Rosales would have to be the one to take it okay um I would like to have time myself to look at the list because we just saw it Tuesday um and I do feel like that there are some on there that are not going to
103fit that I would like to split it up between board members and our Librarians um and get the books back on the Shelf as soon as possible and get the ones out of there that should be I don't think that we should wait till the end of the school year to accomplish that Mr B you know let's leave it up to the Librarians to make a decision let's let them decide how to do it whether they want to group it whether they not to good you know they know more about it than we do by far and uh you know uh they don't make make cliff notes for these books and uh you know these Librarians know a whole lot more about than we do and I just I just want to leave it up
104to them and let if they want to group them that's fine let them do whatever and these books can be brought back anytime thank you Miss F Mr Darby um I have a couple of questions if um Mr results will will entertain them I'm curious I guess what the point was in submitting the 150 books at one time we want to get rid of sexual explicit right we want to get rid of sexual explicit okay so you looked at all 150 reviews and found them all to be sexually explicit and submitted them and we want to protect children correct I'm asking you but I'm asking you do we want so what that this is what it is this is a list reviews I just have a question she submitted it I would like to know
105if she looked at all of them and found them all to be sexually explicit this has caused a firestorm among our Librarians everybody's concerned about the time they're going to be taking and apparently there are books on there that have no business being on there so we're wasting people's time so I'm asking the question so my question is do we want to get rid of sexual explicit I as you the question ask me you don't have the floor I do want but you asking me a question so you're asking and I'm asking do you want to get rid of sexual explicit you have fo about getting rid of sexual explicit do we want to get rid of sexual explicit order one at a time M it's fine she's not I she's not going to answer
106the question so um my whole point would be I know that when Mr Tidwell brought books to the board he had looked at each of those books and found them to be extremely sexually explicit and so they got reviewed they were voted on and the outcome was the outcome we have now placed a task of 150 books that they're now asking the Librarians to review when the person that submitted them from all accounts didn't even look at get all 150 reviews and I feel like that's that's disrespectful to the time of our Librarians so it's I'm not sure what the point of all of that was like I stated on Tuesday we had a policy committee meeting where we put this we postponed it because we are waiting from an answer by the AG so
107that we can properly correct our policy to speak to the AG's opinion of the state law so that we can then put a clear and precise policy in place so that the people of our district know how to move forward with this and we can properly take care of it throwing just randomly doing things without specific purpose and without the answers to things we've already postponed this is like a round Robbin gain of insanity I don't understand why it's going this direction and with that I'm going to call the question on her motion we have a motion who Mr Mr VA I got a question um Mr we got we got to vote need to get call the question is there a second on the call the question is there a second on the call
108the question shark take a vote okay take a vote and calling a question which is to in discussion yes two3 vote Mr VA no Mr vau no Mrs Derby yes Miss sharp yes Mr Tidwell I have more questions no Mrs Rosales no Mrs Maxwell no the nose have it okay we we continue yes Mr VA okay here's the reason I asked for you the when the books are challenged we have the board has 60 days to act correct is it something like that we've got to do under the age appropriate statute that's what the age appropriate section of the statute provides and that's how Mr tedwall has challenged the first 10 books correct he has challenged the books based based on them being sexually explicit corre which is different than the age appropriateness standards in
109the statute so how much time do we have to react to that the statute says any books that fall within the definition of those prohibited classifications are to be immediately removed and they have been correct yes and so then what then our policy it's not in the statute our policy says it comes back to the board for the board to make it take an action on the books that have been removed okay there's no time frame in our policy for that okay so you've got two things you got the state statute and then our our policy the state statute does not require it to come back to the board for Action our policy does require the sexually explicit materials to come back to the board for final determination okay so then coming so the board
110taking action to send it to the Librarians to let them review it would that be considered taking appropriate action there's no prohibition of that in your policy okay that's what I just want to make sure we're satisfying the statute the policy and everything related to it thank you Mr Tidwell question I was going to ask uh about the 60 days but I guess my just to BL this last point it looks like we're growing right to a vote is again if they don't meet the definition I'm on I feel like I'm on both sides of the argument here I am submitting books one day and the next day I'm over here trying to defend keeping them in based because it's based on what I see in what's been submitted so if you want to get
111books that are reasonably and rightly deserved to be back in the library earlier faster my recommendation would be of an amendment to the to the motion to say hey we're going to look at x amount of books a month or the Librarians are going to make a recommendation on x amount of books and if it happens faster as Dr Sullivan has referred to great we're getting that some of these from what I've seen are very short um so it could be faster than what even what we could determine but that's what my request would be as far as amendments Mr Von I'd like to one make one statement to every person sitting in this room whether he got his white shirt on or a purple shirt it doesn't matter this problem needs to be go
112back to the state legislature this is where it came from and that's what's causing every bit is causing every bit of this uh Discord among this board among our community and you know it all came from this sorry law it needs to be Revisited and done correctly this was not done correctly so if you want to take out been upset with anybody call you State lectures Lees and let them know how you feel so that's my two sense we have a motion on the mam chair would you like her to repeat them yeah sorry can I say one more I was sidebar and apologize for the sidebar with Dr Sullivan but we literally have five weeks of school left this year and there there's just no way and and and unfortunately those books have been
113pulled off the shelf and I I think they should have stayed on the Shelf at least until at least submitted and submitted in increments um I don't think uh and this doesn't have anything to do with the Librarians this is this has everything to do with the state law and US complying with the state law Williamson County has slow rolled up complying with the county and they've been sued so there there's there's possible lawsuits on both sides so need to think about that as well well I'm can I well I'm confused then you're saying slow roll or not slow roll you're saying get them off the shelf or don't get them off look everybody wants them off the shelf but nobody can any timely manner but then that that if they're all EX I don't
114know the the books the books should have been previewed before they were submitted there's no way that anyone looked at at those 150 books before they were submitted to say that they were sexually explicit there there's just no way you know that for a fact she's already said that she didn't do it I did not say that well you you was I did not say that I said talk explicit I have the floor MRIs I have the floor look nobody wants the sexually explicit books up there we want them out as quickly as we can do them but this this sending them in now 5 weeks until the end of school uh and and having our employees go into the holidays with this over their heads um is unconscionable this should have been broken up
115just like we had done historically and we need to break these up and take them look at the ones we can look at the ones between now and our next school board meeting and say there's some of these that are not going to make this they're not going to make this list just by looking at them one of the ladies in the audience had one she said it's not it doesn't have sexual explicit material in it so I I think we need to really not run into this and try to do the 150 books at one time but look at that list between now and our next school board meeting and then call those out that are not and then what's left then we'll disseminate through the school board members and our Librarians Miss Maxwell
116yes M rales there was a lot of comments that were said that if we have these books in our libraries we're breaking law it's a misdemeanor so are you saying that you want our Li our Librarians that we that our County will be breaking the law and misdemeanor for having these books on Library shelves by doing it incrementally I thought we want to get rid of all the material of sexual explicit because you're asking us to break the law that was one of the comments that kept saying over and over again Mr tidal M Maxwell are Dr to are the books currently removed yes okay so they're not breaking the law we're asking to speed up the process rather than dragging it out over months and months and months just to muddy up the waters
117um the the other comment that I was going to make is there there's an opportunity here here for for Unity on this board and so I just say we take advantage of that opportunity and it wouldn't be hard to do we still the process still plays out the right way and we get the books that are out need to be out books need to be retained can be back in and we just move forward with it it's there's a great opportunity here we keep hearing about Unity here's the opportunity for Unity question question Dr chest um how long do you think realistically do librarians need to uh preview this 150 books is it possible by the end of the school year which I'm a mat used to be a math teacher but November middle of
118November to the end of May is more than five weeks but how long um how long do you honestly feel like it would take is that long enough or do they need longer time we we are not afraid of the work and can do it within whatever time frame we are given we have some thoughts on how we can split these up among our librarian so that it's not falling on one person or one one school I hate to even ask a questione um but I'm going to fall in line with Mr Tidwell on you know the only way pass this is through it so here we are um and this is going to seem like a very ignorant question so please everybody forgive me for this question I think your quote should be our
119new mission statement we should revisit that I in order to review these effectively with the obscenity law and the age appropriate law in mind while also not losing the tools we have available which are some common parameters on grade level appropriateness uh some parent consent some permissions I I think that is the collective Community wish in order to do that we do need to know sexually explicit isn't defined uh and that that I can find so we have and I'm and again the the effort of clarity is I think I understand what the board's wish is I think but in order to stick to the definitions in both of these laws which reference each other we need some clarity and it doesn't have to come tonight I don't know what the process is on getting
120that clarification on the definition of sexually explicit or do we do you just is our charge to strictly follow the definitions referenced in both age appropriate and obscenity which are things that reference patently offensive and this is where there are going to be some things that get brought back to the board and there are going to be discussions for us to to figure out where our line is I think everybody is okay with that but in order to be efficient we do need to clarify what it is you want us to reference in a thorough review Miss Maxwell yes m Mr Tidwell um great question all right so the the law that's always reference is 496 3803 uh there is section I'm reading correctly it looks like section B part one that is when sexually
121explicit is kind of the umbrella word that's being used to describe that but I'm just going to read that real quick uh it's in whole or in part contains nudity or descriptions or depictions of sexual excitement sexual conduct excess violence or the abuse as those terms are defined in 3917 91 so the definitions are actually defined in the other coordinating law um and then it says it's not appropriate for the age or maturity level of a student in any of the grades kindergarten K through 12 and must not be maintained in library collection so that is I understand what your question is and I hope I've answered it correctly uh in the fact that we're using the word sexually explicit a term to not have to repeat that same Clause under in B1 so if
122we're looking at B1 that does specify in the new law about whole or part that was the big change that's caused the confusion in our library circles we are then charged with specifically using in B1 and obviously not ignoring the rest of the appropriate but those are the definitions that we will then reference in any review that's brought back to the board so that just so that we're clear we will make sure to reference the definitions from the obscenity law 3917 901 is where those definitions are and I would expect and again we haven't we've tried not to get ahead of the process so we have not discussed with Librarians the the way we'll comment on these these books but I would expect us to have then some references to sexual conduct things that are
123patently offensive that is also Define so I think we can use is that a unifying message will be on that okay yes ma'am uh if I can say one last thing on that so that in the connecting the 39 17901 it it describes those definitions in detail and if I may make a suggestion uh when the review process is happening if they see that okay this violates sexual misconduct labeling that next to the passage and then everybody's clear the laws good we're all under the same idea yes Mr Dr svin so I think the problem is going to be and I'm going to try to help so because I don't want Dr Chastain to have to be the face for this either across the entire State um what my concern is is what may be
124viewed by a board member as patently offensive is not patently offensive as appropriate or as defined in the law and that is my big concern um is that there may there is a sexual excitements an example and I'm not going to read the definition but sexual excitement has clear definition of what meets that threshold in some of the books we've had in the past are they graphic absolutely um would I want my kids to read them probably not do they meet that threshold not as defined and that is where we are stuck in trying to listen to Media Specialists and Librarians uphold what the board wants but also follow the law we are absolutely stuck in the middle of that and that is where we did under policy we wanted that portion for it to
125come back to the board so that the board could def decide that Dr suvan I mean Miss Maxwell yes MREs if that is if there are books where they fall in that grayish area is what you're talking about could then the recommendation be with parental consent it it's a book that um that may be viewed by some that they may not or whatever could that could be an option if we could be given that if it falls on that on that side if that's the board wants to do but then we run into the state law that says in whole or in part and so that is where we're constantly M sorry that can be noted on the books is that St I want to bring this up because we're trying to get clarity and
126I think some of the confusion comes in here um when you go to 496 3802 B1 and it lists the words in here the definition for those words specifically are in 3917 901 so we need to be clear if we're looking at them for sexually explicit material what definitions you want them looking at because I think that there is some confusion there because some some of this is wanting to fall underneath the obscenity section where it talks about patently offensive and the average person and all of that but the ACT ual definitions to the words that are specifically in B1 are different than that so if we're going to try and give Clarity we need to be clear if we're asking you to look at this for sexually explicit we need you to look at
127the law on 496 3802 B1 and you may use the definitions in 3917 901 as they pertain to nudity sexual excitement sexual conduct I I really do think it has to be that clear because otherwise there is still going to be a massive amount of confusion as to which part of 3917 901 they're using to review that book okay okay Dr chest I'd say use those definitions yes mhm okay use that and you know and bring them back to us I guess if they won't bring them back to us uh if then it doesn't doesn't make standards bring them back we'll put them back on the Shelf we'll get to work okay well we have a motion do we need to reread the motion Mr tidball I just got a question um so she's she's
128going to bring them back sounds like bring them back quickly if they don't meet the standard so are we still waiting till the end of the year that's the question can I yes Dr s way that I understood Mrs Rosales is motion after hearing her read that second part was that they can come back at any point during the Academic Year and so we will get to work as quickly as possible all great okay can you reread the motion because it's been a while um my motion is um I move that we give our Librarians until the end of this Academic Year to review the challenge books 10 from an earlier challenge list and 150 from a second challenge list and report to the board their conclusions as to which of the challenged books should
129be removed or retained from from school libraries under the standards established in TCA 49-6 3803 and that each librarian receive additional compensation of $1,000 for the work on this project the board will then make a determination after receiving this report as to what books shall be removed or retained books that do not meet the standards established in TCA 49-6 d383 can be brought to the board to vote to put backs once removed throughout the Academic Year and we had a second Mr vau okay would you like to roll yes Mr V I got one final question this is a monetary thing right cuz you have tied a ,000 into it how many Librarians do we have that would be reviewing this I I just we have 60 I'm not sure if everybody is wanting to
130opt into the review process I mean we have Librarians with family time to consider so at most 60,000 I would I would so do we need to put a financial cap on it or you're I mean we undesignated fund balance we have enough money somewhere we should have it because we don't budget our um direct outcome or outcome funding for Tia okay so we're good on money Mr Arby thank you would it be too much to ask or do you feel it's necessary Dr Sullivan to add into that motion that we are not asking them to do this outside of their regular working hours then we would definitely not need to pay them but if we're doing it during their working hours we do need to close libraries that that's the problem one I think
131I would like to have that discussion because I do not want ask them to spend their time I know Wilson County closed their libraries for two weeks so they could accomplish this we could even do like close on Mondays and Fridays for a few months I don't know but it's a discussion I would like to have because I certainly don't want to ask them to take their personal time up to do that um is that a Dr chesang I hate the idea of closing libraries um I think that's I I understand the that there's part of this in terms of how are we balancing efficiency with the services that are provided in our schools to our students I mean we have every student every day on our wall it's in our mission I I hate
132to give the impression that we have to close our libraries and in order to to you know the books are off the shelves I think we can work quickly and efficiently I think if we're able to pay some stiens we can do it um I would leave that up to our Librarians if we want to have a a conversation with them on what they prefer but I hate to I hate students to suffer in a closed Library Mr V Dr chest would you ask the Librarians y'all get together what do they think realistically the time frame that it would take to do this if we need longer than the end of the school year there's no problem with that we do not and if we need to go through the summer and do that and
133pay them extra money that's fine too we will not need the we will not need that either okay than you we're going to start as soon as this board meeting is over okay thank you well we have a a motion we have a second is everybody understand what the motion states okay how about we roll call please I'm sorry m maxw one last question just to make Clarity all these books will come back to the board for recommendation to retain or to remove correct all right okay Mr Tidwell yes Mrs Rosales yes Miss sharp yes Mr V yes Mr vaugh yes Mrs Darby no Mrs Maxwell yes all right it's six yes six it passes call you state legislator right can I do director's update now we're going back to director's update I know everybody
134wants to leave but I would ask that you stay with us before you leave because this is some good news um first I am multitasking up here because I'm watching the County Commission meeting so I want to thank our County Commission um they voted I believe it was either 19 to Z or 18 with one abstaining to fund lever High School's Edition hey so congratulations um Dr hatchet's back there um and I do want to point out that it's part of that funding and that's not the congratulations uh we want to thank that but over the last 20 s months um we have developed an amazing relationship with our County Commission uh just to let you all know what they have funded total as of today they will have funded $259 million um without a
135tax increase caused by us for new buildings and new additions and so that is a huge thank you that goes without being noticed our school system did take 36 million of that out of our own fund balance and so the the actual funding is about about 223 but still that is a huge amount and so that is a huge thank you couple things to hit on uh one we are in the middle of our Charter School enrollment trups um I won't go into big details but I think the board does need to be aware we of course fund our charter schools on projections um their projections I'll give you American classical was 340 Springs um Charter was 240 neither one of them are at their projection and that'll start to be reflected in their November
136payments students yes students that was their projection and so as we have paid the first couple months on projections it's it may very well get to November to where December that there isn't a payment for True up um because there are so many um students that different projection so I would not be surprised so I just wanted the board to be aware and we're working with American class on an issue that I'm going to try to give them some time to correct but it's going to be a it's going to be a hit that we're going to have to discuss now the next big thing is a board we have to discuss is rezoning so I mentioned this at our County or at our work session we have to solidify our Zone lines for 25
13726 um at that December 10th rezoning meeting so elementary school has new Zone lines that go into effect with poer Hill Elementary School I don't anticipate many changes to that Middle School doesn't really have any new zones because we're waiting for the new Middle School to open high school has new zones based on Oakland Riverdale and Smyrna additions we have work session on December 3rd a work or board meeting on December 5th and then an official rezoning meeting on December 10th the reason that that is imperative is that we have to publish our open seats for two weeks before we start our Lottery to public to start taking applications for open seats that Lottery starts January 1st so um they I will have the data on the 18th I hope and as soon as I'm
138done I'm sending it to you all and they're going to do their official presentation the third 18th yeah so I meet with them on the 18th now let's talk about some celebrations cuz these are um ultimately what it's about as a school system First Central magnet has been named the number one school in Tennessee yet again and so congratulations to Dr a central they are they are ranked number 19 overall in the country uh what is unique for us is that we are also proud to have the number one Elementary School in the state so we had number one high school middle school in Central and number one Elementary School in mcfaden so congratulations to mcfaden as well also I know he has left Thurman Francis is the number four Elementary School in the state
139aome we'll do an official recognition um shanana groom was announced G is our school um nurse Health Services director she was announced as our school nurse admin of the Year from the entire state of Tennessee um Tim Pedigo is the twaa principal of the year now let's talk about academic performance cuz that's truly where it matters our district graduation rate this was all released today so anybody can go to the State website and see it our district graduation rate is 97.2% uh we're that is a big deal we are normally above 95 but 97 we believe is a new record for our school system um District performance starts to be released today as well so I want to just read quickly what we always talk about is Tas growth um achievement is one measure and
140those are the percent of kids you have that meet a certain Target but for us we talk about as a district that we expect kids to grow and so this is what growth actually is Tas demonstrates where students perform academically at a single point in time but growth represents not all students start at the same place in their learning trajectory but every student should grow and learn throughout the school year um that is extremely important for us because not every kid and actually the majority of our students are not with us kindergarten through 12th grade um they move in either from Murphy's Boro City they move in because of the amazing growth that we have in this school system we can't control where kids enter our school system but we can control what happens every
141year that they're with us and so Tas actually talks about what your impact is and this is compared to every student school and District in the entire State uh level one is your lowest the state ranks that is significant evidence that students made less growth than expected three is your evidence that students made growth as expected and then five significant evidence that students made more growth than expected um we are traditionally a level five um we are a level five school system again which is the highest you can be so we absolutely are proud of being the highest um growth District that you can be but it's beyond just that uh we are a level five district with all subjects combined we are also a level five district for math we're a level five district
142for English we're level five district for science we're a level five district for social studies so overall level five every individual subject to level five to give you a trajectory of what we're doing as a school system in 2122 19 of our schools were a level five 22 23 26 of our schools were a level five and then this year 32 of our 48 schools that actually give a test or a level five school system schools and I hope that this is the sound bite the news picks out even though I have a feeling they won't um it's an honor daily to serve and Lead this amazing school system the performance of our students continues to shine um and that I want to thank our School principles 25% of student achievement in the schools based
143B on the level of effess of their of the school leadership our teachers they have the greatest impact on student achievement in the school building um our staff whether they're working with students supporting our operations ensuring success all the different things that go on to make our school system work our contractors whether our bus drivers getting them to school or our substitute teachers who have to help fill in when a teacher is not there um our school board thank you all for the support even though we all don't agree we have an absolutely amazing school system that we all should be extremely proud of our parents because they make the greatest impact on student achievements and then ultimately our students and the best thing that I know to say to them is thank you you
144all perform and that's what we expect you come to school even though if the lessons aren't the best and you're boor you still perform each and every day so uh thank you all and it's definitely a reason to sell them that is fantastic news I am so proud to be the board chair for the greatest school system in the state of Tennessee but it starts at the top than so Dr Sullivan you are doing a tremendous job leading this District than you thank you all very much no no speech got tears but no speech that's happened more the last 6 months but here we go thank you I will entertain wait wait we cannot leave yet um I just want to say that um you don't know this Claire but we have something special for
145you for your birthday my birthday's passed I know and I wanted to make sure that we celebrated your birthday I don't know what the card went I've got him not here not here all the board members um signed it or not please sign it but I will invite the staff and the board members for some cake afterwards um and so I just want to say happy birthday to miss Maxwell this is also miss rosales's birthday so both of our yes it is and I got my own card don't worry I make sure there were two cards one for me and one for miss Ma thanks well there are also some cards down here that need to be signed by the board for Smur Ready Mix and D Smith thank them so if nothing is move
146to move yes Mr we have executive don't we still wait was that okay weour okay