Board of Education Policy Committee Meeting - October 15, 2024

001call policy committee meeting for the Rutherford County School Board October 15th 2024 our first item up to business is the Pledge of Allegiance and I am pleased to see a former student of mine Mr Tyler sarton who is obliged and is willing to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pleas FL the United States of America and the for it stands [Music] one next up we have the approval of the agenda I'll give you just a minute to look it over any comments or questions all approved all in favor ra sorry yes I I any against guys have it thank you now we have three speakers for public comment the first one is Miss dney amble uh I'm here today to speak about the library materials policy libraries are sanctuaries of intellectual Freedom Within

002These libraries are professionally trained Librarians Librarians spend Years Learning how to best serve their Community including determining if a book belongs in the school library to to the best of my knowledge none of the members of this board or the school board have a library science degree you have not gone through the same training nor had the same education as our district Librarians they should decide whether or not TR remove a book not the board at the very least librarian should have some say in deciding whether or not not a book is removed the decision should not be left solely to the school board Librarians are not trying to do the Schoolboard job so why should the school board do the librarian job by evaluating the appropriateness of books I also caution the school board

003members against removing a book solely from mentioning sex there are many historical topics including slavery and American Indian residential schools which cannot be accurately discussed at the high school level without discussing rape and sexual abuse removing any book that discusses sex will deny students like me an accurate historical Viewpoint and could also lead to removal of books about biology and health the Supreme Court has already established a standard for vcinity the Miller test if a book does not meet this standard then it should not be removed by the school board thank you for your time thank you next we have Thomas buds explicit and obscene books and school libraries it isn't some thorough discussion we're dealing with a state criminal statute it's very clear explanation of what explicit and obscene this is not civil law

004it's criminal law it applies to minors every student under your jurisdiction by Statute is a minor you have no adults under your jurisdiction therefore any attempt to create a mature reading section on its face violates the state statute in that no one under your jurisdiction has reached the age of maturity creation of such a section is Prim faci recog nition that mature books are in fact explicit or obscene or they wouldn't be required segregation your current policy allows teachers to determine maturity levels violates the law you cannot project maturity onto minors neither can their parents the purposes of this law miners are miners period your current policy also allows for an internal review process possibly involving the very people who may be resisting implementation of this law even police Behavior outside review is required and

005so should you this board cannot override a state criminal statute with a policy your policy must comply with state law any policy you create supposed to bring about compliance and implementation of the state law which requires you to make sure these books are not in the school system whatsoever lastly you're not the final arbitrators of state law when the Supreme Court used the term local it sent the decision back to the States our state legislature has spoken believing you are the local decision makers is misguided you cannot usurp the legislation the legislation made a criminal law and you and all County Employees fall under the legal standard of a jury of your peers it's a felony to provide explicit and obscene materials to minors in Tennessee the last time I was here I appealed to

006the board's moral conscience but reluctance seems to persist it's a shame to even have to raise subject of criminal prosecution but if that's what it takes to get appropriate compliance with this law then so be it any policy developed by the board should consider a felony criminal legal Jeopardy of librarians teachers or any person to include parents in the circumvent this law violators will be pursued by your peers through Criminal enfor forcement channels the sexual compromising of our minor children will be over the only question remaining is whether it's going to be done by policy or by a trial thank you thank you our last speaker is Miss Ellen Myrick thank you I didn't hear anything about children in that last speaker I didn't hear anything about what children need what they want to read

007thank you for granting me permission to speak this evening as you may remember my children are products of the Redford County School System thanks one of them has a master's degree the other one's working on it and I am a small business owner in our County I understand that a policy change to the library materials review process is under consideration that would lower the bar to the point that a board member can unilaterally request removal with no public input or due process the state of Tennessee requires Librarians to complete 42 hours of coursework to be licensed course titles at MTSU include in our local University materials for literacy of children is a course name and this covers materials suitable for babies Toddlers and elementary school children it includes the study of reading skills recreational reading

008so important non-fiction criteria for evaluating selecting and integrating national standards into programming for these patrons and also the partnership between library and School curriculum this is just one of the courses required my question is this will the hypothetical board member who removes a book put the same level of critical evaluation consider the various ways children read understand the intersection between School curriculum and books that support and amplify classroom lessons and standards as the librarian who carefully selected the book that for for their school community in the first place by conducting conver ation about material appropriateness in the light of day the public can ensure that a book is given an opportunity to be seen and evaluated based on the needs of the community at large not an individual even one with a popular Viewpoint the

009school needs to serve 100% of its student body not just those with the loudest voices indeed it is the kids who most need the library who are least likely to speak up but that is a conversation for another day and not focusing on what someone wants removed rather than celebrating books that can bring us together and that is the first step on the bridge thank you very much you okay before we start and go over the policy changes um we have several new members this time around we have a few new board members and then we have a few new um teachers with us so before we get started I just want to go over the purpose of the policy committee kind of how the policies come to us and then the role of the

010um policy committee so just so you all know thank you cuz I'm looking at both of them and they're like what in the world have I stepped into after she goes over what the the rules of the policy committee are I'd like for us all to just quickly introduce ourselves if we could please yeah so policy changes or new policies can really come from anywhere in our community um they can come from board members they can come from students they can come from parents they can come from principals um School staff central office staff um really anywhere and um they go through this committee and you all are basically The Gatekeepers you have to discuss um the proposed change obviously make sure it um abides by all the various laws that we have to abide

011by and by other our other um board policies so that is the role of this committee is to be The Gatekeepers discuss all this and then make sure that we are in compliance and our policies uh make sense and follow the law so that's how we get here okay thank you I would like to start at this end if we could and just kind of go around the table my name is K Martin and I'm the superintendent for I'm Mark I'm the director of special populations and federal programs I'm elliee I'm teacher schar principal High School Miss lizard school counselor o High School [Music] joe4 Jason well R School member zone Z zone six member retired educ been here for 40 plus years CL Max chairman of the brother School Board Jimmy Jimmy svin director

012of school superintendent it means the same thing in this state so Tammy sharp Zone one stay involved Katie Derby zone four thank you this is Stacy Wallace she's our paral and then I'm Monica Ridley okay well let's get started um we will start with policy 802 this is Section 504 and Ada grievance procedures um this policy really is meant to streamline the language in the policy to differentiate the process under 504 and Ada and just so that you all know our 504 procedures fall under um Federal programs and under the special education department which is under uh Dr Annie Ralston and and then our Ada procedures fall under HR under Dr Andrea Anthony and so the way that the policy right now um is written is a little bit confusing because not all the sections

013apply to either Ada or 504 so what we are proposing is just to make it very simple and basically just have the highlights and then strike everything that is um stricken through and then use our procedures in order to have um the process for the grievance procedure under those two separate acts um in place that way people are not really confused if they have a 504 grievance which process do they use if they have an ADA grievance which process um do they use and so that is our proposal is to add in the highlighted section and then remove the struck through language any comments or questions um M maxw yes thank you um M um so when we TR this other procedure we're still going to be in compliance with federal law yes so we're

014just going to put it in a district procedure okay and that way it just outlines what the process is under Ada and what the process is under under 504 I think that's just going to be a little bit easier because we do have them under two separate departments um and that way you know everyone knows what what they just streamlining the process a little bit better but all the procedures and you have procedures already for both um so you know as soon as the board approves this then we can put those in place but we'll still be in compliance with those laws we need to do more streamlining thank you yes M Arby are we going to be able to have links once those procedures are put together so that if someone goes into our

015policies and searches this when this policy pops up they will have a direct link as to what those procedures are I don't think we can put a direct link into the policy because that is housed through tsba but all our procedures are on our website and they're right under the policy manual is there a way for us to I guess maybe notate with in the policy where to go to see those procedures I think we could do that yeah we can cross reference at the bottom that would be great thank you any other questions or comments I'll entertain motion move to approve second all in favor say I I I any opposed pass thank you next policy is 2.44 which is school support organizations this one is on the agenda for discussion there is no

016proposed language at this time um we did have a principal request to put this on to just discuss um some options um if School support organizations are not working out and not supporting um the programs that they are created to support um so again no proposed language it's really for the committee um to kind of discuss if we want to change this in any way was there any specific requests that this gentleman had U just to give the um principal of the school where the school support organization is in effect um maybe some ability to [Music] um you know dissolve if there's issues or have some kind of authority I guess I should say over um the school support organization and and the work of that okay Mr C so what were you PR opposing

017on line8 so you wanted to end revoke the the revoke the what the okay and that'll be the period that just ended there and then everything else will be stried out I'll make a motion we accept that we're just going to discuss but one okay you make a motion do I have a second go yes yes Mr V explain to me or touch on what is the issue what where are the potential pitfalls problem some of the issues that we've had is school support organizations exist for financial support um of sport band what whatever it may be that they're created to support I think some of the trouble that we've had in the past that I've known about is maybe they are not [Music] um you know the coach may have a request to purchase

018something on behalf of the team or the the group and then the school support organization doesn't agree and then they don't fund that um so there's some you know some differences um between what the coach wants what the team needs and what the school support organization is willing to fund you also have it yeah you also have it in a similar setting of we will fund this if you allow playing time for certain individuals oh blackmail and I'm going to call it like I said that's the reason I was going to ask Mr Cy here the from your standpoint as the chief in charge there at your school where where where are the pitfalls for you he said we've had situations since I've been there think we Clos three maybe and parents were not fun

019program as the coach exist coach progr parents is there to support the coach financially program there financially so there been issues like that [Music] okay no I was just saying that's sad well that's what I'm I'm sitting here kind of in disbelief a little bit but I I'm reading I think I'm read between L and see the situation that's some you need or you and your organization first need that ability CS stri that's what we're that's what we're doing here right put back in [Music] there part of that comes to you can have um an SSO who then becomes we haven't had this yet but can very much come combative with the school and so right now outside of me making a procedure you could have the SS operating with the school's logo the school's

020colors the school's name going out and we could approve a fundraiser but they have all ability for what they use that funding for and so they very well could go out and fund things that aren't needed um without any say so whatsoever okay most part 11 had okay yes M dery so um so the are there are there actual procedures right now that that speak to line 13 on page one where it says director of school shall create procedures to oversee the relationship nothing that I'm aware of we have there is one it is very old that has not been updated ated in a long time um so we are working on updating all procedures have been working on it for a little bit but there is there is a procedure it's fair it goes

021back to a pretty publicized situation about a decade and a half ago at one of our local high schools and I I don't want to call that school out but there were lots of issues with the SSO so would it be beneficial to add to procedur or put and here something along the lines of how we have like a 5-year plan for that SSO and the principal and the coach to sit down and start identifying those needs so that those organizations know ahead of time before they start raising money what those needs are to maybe lessen those types of disagreements and they happen very rarely I mean very rarely but yeah I don't have an issue with that whatsoever well I'm just to me it would make sense to sit down everybody to sit down

022and say okay we're getting ready to need like all I have no idea my kids don't play school sports but what football pads are coming up and that's going to be $5,000 or whatever the things are to just kind of H so people can foresee like what's coming and what's needed and part of the issue running to is usually your SSO officers change every year and so your your senior class moves on and now you have the next class who may have a different set of priorities or your coaches change very true yes can I add that Miss Darby saying what you're saying is if you buy into the program with your kids in that program and you have this 5year plan you know what you're buying into so when you come in even though

023you're you may be a freshman you know what the intent was for the coach and the Pres prior to and what the seniors or graduating participants have [Music] cure what they [Applause] need create continuity and culture I mean I would I would hope so because at the end of the day for some of our schools even if there's a disagreement or somebody doesn't like a coach for a year whatever it is my concern would be that dissolving some of those organizations is is robbing the kids ultimately of money for their program so I would love to see more like of a collab but that's why I said like maybe if it's a threee fiveyear plan everybody kind of has an idea of what they're looking towards and then it doesn't matter if you like the

024coach or not we already talked about we need XYZ this is what we're raising money for I don't know just a thought this so they they know why they know their purpose and if they violate those purposes I'm like Larry they need to just be needs to be revoked or disbanded because they know from the get-go what their purpose is what their functions are I mean that's everyone I've ever known that knows that and every SS so they know what their purposes are miss Ma no no you're fine I was just going to say a 5-year plan sounds good in theory but just like our Five-Year Plan it's fluid it changes all the time so it's never anything concrete I think that if you were leave it at the description between with the principal in

025meeting with the whoever is at the start of the school year and figuring out what are those needs are and that's what they commit for that year because the next year will be different um so I think it'll be hard to have a 5-year plan that you can continue to follow because the needs change all the time just like a 5-year plan changes all the time based on our needs and what's going on so I think it just needs to be more in line of what the principal is um believes is the need of for that particular year to focus on and then the next year it's going to be something different but it's just really com in alignment for that year of what they're going to concentrate and focus on person ISS Sor so

026can we let Dr Sullivan like reevaluate the older procedures and put something in place that allows for review of sorts if it if it doesn't come up come up often maybe the easiest solution is to just say when a conflict arises the director of schools will over the situation or we can enact a procedure to take care of this we had a motion do we want to go with the same motion we had we had a second too or if you want me to just draft procedures then we can withdraw the motion yeah we yeah draft the procedures okay okay second thank you okay next policy is 2.85 which is purchasing I think we have rolled this one from the last couple of meetings that we've had you will see a separate sheet that I

027handed out that was not in the paper clipped packet um and there are some options um for some uh language in that one where we at I have school support organization it's this sheet right here was given separate County property do you need an extra one M Rosales okay M Ridley one if you don't mind real quick the board got an email from tsba last week about school support organizations and paying coaches um we have every supplement and stien that goes from school support organization that is the big consent agenda portion that you guys approve every meeting so that did not apply to usance what tsba sent they not purchasing yeah but I had this first and then M Maxwell yes Mr Tidwell uh could we have Mr Reed kind of go over these options

028for us yeah thanks um this U I think came as a recommendation from one of the board members um this is a uh the rord County Schools new property cirs and acquisition options these are just this is something I think is coming to the policy committee for consideration and these are various recommendations that could be implemented if the policy committee and the board chooses to do this um these are all options for acquiring new new uh sites for schools how to locate sites for schools so there are five options here um the first option being um um engaging a realtor and that Realtor will be exclusively the buyer representative not the sellers representative and that will be based on experience knowledge and expertise the commission would be negotiable the U it would only cost the

029Board of Education any money if they actually if the purchase is actually approved by the board and approved the County Commission and goes through um they only the realtor would only benefit by finding property that would work for the school purposes and negotiating the deal and it that would it has the Merit of being cons of requiring consistent time and effort spent looking for the property according to the needs of the school system um the realtor could be located by sending out an RFQ to see what Realtors are interested in possibly representing the Board of Education in regard to the search for schools and then there would be a committee or uh position that would be used to narrow down the um applications for in response to the RFQ to maybe the only top five

030to eight agents and then out of the top five to eight agents then the top candidates will be selected through a random on on online selector or some or other kind of random SE selection device um obviously everyone if you're a board member and there lot of Realtors around and everyone has their friends relatives and neighbors supporters could be a realtor so the random process might be a way to eliminate some of the um jockeying for position with respect to who the realtor would be um so that's one option is the realtor option um a second option is to send out an RFP outpour realtor and this is would involve um and I should go back and say the commission would be with the realtor I think would us be paid by the seller so

031if there's u a a parcel of property the board is interested in buying um typically the the seller would pay that commission it would not be a buyer expense it would not typically be a buy a board of education expense unless the board chose it to be an expense the board of education so the second item was sent out an RFP for realtor um and this is um an RFP for a specific location in school this has the potential of bringing multiple locations and offers to the schools to the school system the that will be evaluated evaluated by someone on staff or the board um in that case a seller pays the commission for the realtor um it only costs the Board of Education something if indeed the school system Desir to purchase the property

032um it would allow um the school system to benefit by maybe seeing other properties they don't normally get presented before the board and you would have um people with experience and knowledge and expertise providing those real estate proposals to the board of to the board and you would have to identify a position responsible for reviewing the rfps and presenting those to the board that would have to be either individual or committee or some sort of mechanism that the board would establish um to sort through the rfps and determine which ones would then be brought forward to the board the third option um was U maybe creating an in-house position which could possibly be a retired or former real estate agent that will be a salary position or hourly position and that position would be dictated

033by the amount of hours or properties we need to search for but that person could pres present a monthly report to to the board um or whatever schedule the board chose to have and you can offer a flat fee or percentage bonus for that person if they find something the school ends up buying and that could be a Shar position um between maybe um the school system in ruri County possibly for if the rre county had other property needs that need to be identified so that would be an in-house position which is something would be a salary kind of employee type position who could help with located new properties the fourth um item here is a non-exclusive buyer representation um that would allow any brokerage agent to participate and present proposals to the board in

034that case the commission will be negotiable deal by deal um again um it would only cost the school system something um in the event the purchase was U approved by the board um and and um the amount of time required for someone to do that would be consistent with whatever properties um the school system was looking for in in terms of acquisition of that time the fifth um option on this on the proposal sheet was a combination of two and three or three and four above um that would be um involving an in-house position that maybe could be involved with um handling the RFP and evaluating the RFP those who then um be presented to the board for further action as the board chose to do so and um the in-house position can report to

035the board on a periodic basis as the board determines it's necessary so um with respect to these proposals you basically have um four different proposals here with using a realtor sending out an RFP for realtor an in-house position or a non-exclusive buyer representation and the fifth category here is for a combination of two and three or three and four as the board and policy committee seems desirable so these are presented for the consideration just for options the policy committee may want to consider if you want to consider these items and for further action by the board Miss Maxwell yes um two things one there there's already a policy called uh site selection acquisition 2.92 also the very very last line at the bottom it says delegation of Authority for that policy um line seven says

036the director of schools is authorized to De develop procedures to implement this policy and to my knowledge I don't believe there's been um the director has not has not implemented procedures to do this policy which will be in will not be consistent with this at all secondly I thought there was a um a rule that we were supposed to be turning things in a week before our policy committee and we got this today that is true and so my understanding is that if we're going to be submitting new policies we are to submit them a week before the policy is committed um before before the policy meets and then secondly um I believe that um the director is still in need of providing the implementation of procedures for site selection for policy 2.92 as stated

037on there any other questions or comments yes M ARP I'll go ahead and speak to this since um I put this together I this is now the third attempt to the Rutherford County Schoolboard policy committee meetings to get us moving forward in some Direction with getting assistance in identifying land this is not site selection as this is the site we want to acquire this is a search to find potential sites um I did ask Miss Ridley to put a placeholder in because I was meeting with Middle Tennessee Association of Realtors to discuss their thoughts on how we could proceed with this so they had done some research and we have been going back and forth a bit on trying to figure out what the best options are are I'm just trying to get us moving

038in a forward direction we continue to have conversations about the growth in our County the land is disappearing and yet there is nothing happening on any consistent basis that has anybody continually looking so as with anything the the board can choose to do what they wish as well as stop any of these things at any point in time so if we went forward with one we weren't happy with the way it was going there's no reason to to not be able to continue it I really am just trying to get us moving forward because we we're just kind of sitting stagnant and I don't think in the current climate of our County and the growth that we're experiencing that that's a good place for us to be um Realtors are the ones that have the

039experience and the expertise looking for property and there are I think especially and you might be able to speak to this much better than I would um but I've been told by realtors that large Parcels of land a lot of times never even make it onto the market like they would never even make it somewhere where the common person might even see it because they get talked about because someone knows someone that owns an Old Farm or whatever it may be and there are people who are well known in that industry that kind of find out about them and know someone who's looking and things happen in that direction too so I just think the longer we continue to keep putting this off the worse of a position that it puts us in it's just

040my opinion but I've I've gone back now for the third time and put together multiple options and I would really just like to see us move forward in some direction Miss Maxwell yes um we don't need a policy to tell us that Realtor can bring us a piece of land a realtor that has a piece of land can come to us and bring it to us if it's if it's available um we already have a policy that talks about how we're supposed to be moving forward and we have to my knowledge right now a piece of property that we' been looking at but it takes a time to get these deals through Mr re arry still in conversation with the property over in Le road we are exactly so we're not kicking this down the

041road we've got we're not stagnated we are we are we have something right now that is very um active still so I I'm going to make a motion to table this policy so that we can look into more further what this implications because at the end of day we have Mr Reed who can act as our real estate real estate engine in any of these transactions when we don't have to pay them anything a commission or um nothing so it just defeats the purpose of having a real estate agent when we have Mr Reed who acts on our behalf at that in that capacity in that regard mam chair yes Mr T I'm sorry did he yeah I made a motion to table this until the next policy committee M max Mr Tipple thank you

042there's still discussion happening so um with that being said um the reason I was talking we were talking about this in general over the past several policy committees is because we're looking as Miss Derby has pointed out we need land and the more options we have uh just like Mr Vault would know about this the more people you have to show to show up at an o the better the price so the more people that we have looking for land in several different areas potentially the more land options we have as a negotiating Tool uh as we've seen in the past so my thought was that if we can get this if we can getbody to bring us land someone that's consistently looking for land for our school then that is there's a value associated

043with that now I'm looking at these three options trying to figure out which one is the most costeffective version of that I think that's for the board to to consider but to have someone consistently looking at land versus just waiting for stuff to be brought to us or even just having one person looking at it but having one dedicated to it I think could potentially bring forth some properties that are not currently available developers do this all the time and they are our enemies unfortunately in this particular fight for land uh I don't know are you a developer I didn't mean to say that that's your you're yeah uh but it it it's a battle because they want the land we want the land and it's a battle to fight over it now they have

044people searching out diligently searching out the land so I think that if we can come to some kind of compromise here to figure out how we can uh incentivize someone as cost effectively as possible then I think there's some options on here that make sense I think it's also important to note at the top the recommendation uh to adopt for a six-month time period some of these op options if this didn't work out and no land was brought wouldn't even cost us a dime so I think it's just worth the the consideration uh we've already kicked this bucket down the road a few times so I say we either hash it out and figure something out or maybe this is not what the board wants M Shar thank you madam chair um let me give

045you one example of re very very recent that we because we did not have an active realtor looking for a piece of land or building and that was the acar charter school they bought that piece of land they bought that piece of land in the building it's 100,000 squ ft building it's got land for all the athletic stuff they bought that building for $14 million there's no way that we could have touched anything to build for that or just buy the property so they had someone who was actively looking a car had someone who was actively looking for a piece of property and took that piece of property to them when I live right down the street and didn't even know it was for sale so there's so many back roads to everything and we

046can't continue to not have someone actively looking for this because these pieces of property they when they come up they're gone they we all we're asking is for someone to dedicate some time to look for a building look for property look for this stuff and that's part of their job to do this Mr Arby and I I'm sure another board members have looked at property up on the North End as much as we can but just like the piece of property at the ridge when I talked to Mayor Cole when we started digging down into to it the developer had already bought it and they're going to um they had a contract on it so we're behind the eightball by not being proactive of having someone for actively looking for a piece of property to

047bring to the board to look at not to purchase but just to look at Mr AR I can appreciate this you've put a lot of work into this but I'm just now seeing this and I'm just not comfortable voting on something for uh going forward even for six months it may be the right thing to do but I would really like to study this and put this perhaps on the next uh policy meeting and we will have had this and we can do this um we also have a motion so someone wants to Second my motion of to table it to the next committee policy committee postpone to postpone it you have a second second want a roll call roll roll call yes wait a minute yes oh this is one thing I know this

048is what I okay the it's roughly 2,000 EST so I'm going make some general observations all right I'll make some general observations as a realtor and Auctioneer 38 years now um there's almost 2,000 realtors in Rutherford County so to try to do a RFQ RFP the one to put it out employment what do you really want do you want to consult you know you're talking about commission here the there's been a for those of you that don't know it there's a huge case that was settled by the National Association Realtors in August came effective a class action lawsuit and we as Realtors no more can co-op commission so the the fallacy that you can employ a realtor and the seller is going to pay the commission is not necessarily true it it it will work

049but it has to be everything has to be designated so I'm not trying to get away from what you're trying to do I'm trying to think through what you're really asking for here is somebody to be basically a head hunter you want somebody representing the board working for the board years ago and I know you hate it when I bring up years ago uh 30 years ago Ed Shirley did a lot of this and he knew you know a dozen agents within the county that would bring stuff to the board um I was one of those agents there's several of the school sites that I was involved with 30 years ago um and so there are there's some parameters that really need to be thought through about what you're trying to do do you want

050to designate somebody here at the central office to be that leison can can could you do it that way cuz you got of very capable legal people here that can structure the contract the way it needs to be treat you know structured to represent both Schoolboard taxpayers and and and you know the land owners should have their own own representation through the deal anyway so what I'm what I'm hearing you say and I'm I'm not trying to put words in your mouth what I'm hearing you say is you really want somebody kind of shaking the bushes and looking and I don't know that you can't maybe designate somebody here and I'm looking to you director that you could designate somebody within the system here that would be the lon that could put The Feelers out

051I know one time the the site at krol in fact there was an ad uh the board the board ran an ad in the Daily News Journal and uh uh the site for kol and the site for rock Vil if I'm not mistaken were found that way uh Stewart Stewartsboro uh had had a sign on it for many years for sale and laws Bowen brought it to the board and what was the other one last CES was handled internally um uh Mr Gaither handled it with the Brown family so it I I mean I I think what I and I'm not again not trying to put words in your mouth I think there's a there's a way to structure this to kind of push forward a little bit but hiring an agent I don't know

052is the right thing to do right now but but I would be willing to to contribute my expertise my time if you would be willing to to maybe let's hold off when is the next policy meeting anyway we'll proba one in December okay if you could do that I would be more than happy to sit down with all of y'all and try to work through what some ideas are that that we could do to maybe expedite this is if if that would be of any assistance to everybody okay mwell M um I would like for the for Dr Sullivan to move forward with the procedures of implementing policy 2 point 9002 because we' um voted this back in May and there has not been procedures that have been proposed and how to do the implementation

053because part of that implementation is how the site selection is supposed to be happening and that's a policy that we voted back in uh May 2024 I would like to see that coming through as well as part of it because we already got a policy that we voted on how a lot of this process is supposed to be streamlined and and done we could keep an eye out for that charter school and when they don't when they F the tent we could probably buy it from them we don't have that option we don't have that option unfortunately that's not that's a nonstarter talk to our state delegation on that one they have not going to happen so we have a motion we do have a second who was the second okay so let's just do

054a roll call vote and can you say and you can say what the motion was again please the motion was made by Mr Rosales to postpone uh this policy and it it was seconded by Mr vaugh until the next policy meeting until the next policy meeting so that would be in December DEC yes okay usually I think we do January it's every every three months okay Miss sharp Mr V yes Mr vaugh yes M Rosales yes Miss Darby no Mr Tidwell no Miss Maxwell yes Dr Sullivan yes Dr Martin yes Dr gulan yes Mr Cy yes Miss blizzard yes Miss Lee Miss Carr Mr scales Hardman yes motion to postpone pass thank you okay next policy is 3206 this is community use of school facilities this one is also for discussion I know there's been

055um a few things mentioned about the way that our um facilities are used and so we place this one on here to make sure um that there were no changes needed and just discuss it in general there's no proposed language yes yes Mr San I think we're good now that we've changed it to one week so they only have to have it into us one week before it used to be two weeks so this is along with board members this is the only other item that can be submitted just one week before the board meeting so I don't think there's any changes needed okay any other comments or discussions I'll entertain a motion move to approve second all in favor say I I any opposed passes okay next policy is 3.4 which is student transportation

056management um this one is also for discussion somebody asked me to put this on the agenda I can't remember who it was um but I believe they wanted to discuss some um requirements for bus drivers does that sound familiar to anyone requirements for bus drivers yes whatever it's in for a bus driver that has to be in a contract correct so there's nothing we can Implement in policy if it's not in contract correct my correct to to interpret that an assumption yeah we if it's not in the contract not able to changes to policy are responsibilities of bus owners no let's see here here's my note to myself um it was about a cognitive test for bus drivers over a certain age oh who put that on there but I don't remember who asked me

057to put this on here okay a connective test cognitive cognitive test well we cannot make any changes again until we do the contract so uh we cannot move forward with that policy in my opinion but I'm not a legal person so well yes I think you can vote to keep it as is yep Absolutely I'll make that motion to keep it as is I never get to make a motion got a second over there tid all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes okay next motion is policy 4.43 which is Library materials this one is also for discussion um we don't have any proposed language but several people asked me to um put this back on the agenda M Maxwell yes Mr Tidwell I'm guessing the reason this one is up here is

058because of some the discussion that was had on the September 19th meeting and there seems to be uh at one point there was two Pathways which we talked about the difference between age appropriateness and obscenity now do the law change back in uh July that's that's now moving forward it looks like there's actually three Pathways so as I understand it U lawyers being present can help me getting straightened out here uh but on the age appropriateness what we have outlined still works and the changes we made still works there's going to be a review process started at the elementary school or which one of the grade bands goes to the school they make a recommendation they send that to the director of schools he makes a recommendation the board will have a vote on that

059when it comes to obscenity but I think that's going to mostly fall on your n uh first page 19 through 30 uh lines 19 through3 I think that mostly deals with the obscenity portion and so there may be a necessity to add in a third line as as you see is as defined in Tennessee code annotated 901 uh maybe we should add in and I don't have to look at well actually got it here [Music] somewhere let's see that policy the one that we was reading about during the board meeting that talked about this particular issue but it deals with sexual depictions and what that actually means it gives a description of that trying to look and see if I have it in here excuse me for being unprepared oh here it is all right

060Sy Code initated 496 3803 Collective review policy adoption evaluation and removal I think in order to match and this is state law in order to match what we have going on here now there is a third pathway and that involves with uh and I don't know if you can pull that up here can you pull can you throw up here so everybody can see what we're talking about Tennessee code annotated 496 3803 make sure everybody's on the same page [Music] [Laughter] I'm not a [Music] robot you look at let's see number one right there for the purposes of this section of the material that find stru a little bit differently but it says in whole or in part contains new to year desri the description depictions of sexual excitement it carries on uh it references

061this definition back on the first page line 19 through3 I'm wondering if we need to add in a reference to this particular policy and the line which is in hold on part that that particular line there so that that's part of our policy as well since it is part of State law now you're looking at three Pathways you got a pathway for vicinity which would go through a couple different levels it would be defined through nearly the same terms in 39 17901 which has already listed this policy we already have a path for what aity looks like in this policy and that final decision is made at the board then you also have age appropriateness already in this policy with that final decision being made at the board now you have this new section this

062section that it [Laughter] I did bring this because what I [Laughter] this [Laughter] I [Laughter] law but the lawmakers of the state of Tennessee did and it is our job to comply with state law we not like the law it doesn't matter that's not our job to determine our job is to uphold state law state law says books that meet this criteria and these definitions have no place in the school system like or not then that's what we have to do I would like to talk with Ben Torres I would like for him to give us guidance on this in deference to Jeffrey I think you are an excellent attorney but he works with these people and he can get inside their brains and what they're trying to say and he also knows what's going

063on in all these other counties that are they're confronted with the same issue my fear is that too many books are getting caught up in this too many good books too many classic books if you just go by what we have here we are we're encompassing a too big a barrel of books and it's I'm I'm I'm just it is very unclear and I I'm just not comfortable Miss vo on this it's unclear because the law is unclear you've got three statues that are competing against each other you have one statue that says you can remove it and then you've got another statue well I don't think so you got to go through there so the confusion is not our policy the confusion is within the state law themselves and a lot of us are

064saying we're here to protect our children but I haven't seen you guys down at the bo at the down at the capital trying to raise awareness how confusing these laws are because it's causing the problems and I've been there and I've been talking to them and telling them exactly what's happening is the laws the laws that they've created is what's causing the confusion because in one hand they're saying you can do this but in the other hand they've got this other law that is very conflicting and saying you know you cannot and then we've then we're getting then we've got all these emails saying that from ACLU saying that we can't remove them or whatever but but at the end of the day the problem boils down to the statues themselves the statues are the

065problems right now and whether you like it or not is because the states are unclear of what exactly you can or cannot do that's where the problem is and I've talked to my state reps and I told them that these statutes are causing a bigger problem because they're not defining exactly what we can how can you have one law to say you can do this but then yet a parent can do appropriate and still come and saying that you can still keep it doesn't make any sense to me at all Mr Tidwell Mr Vault was ahead of me I'm sorry that I did not see you sorry GM is it off I'm sorry um generally years ago when we would have a question for Jim Co he and and when we had confusion on state

066law or something like that there was always the option to ask for attorney general's opinion have we ever asked have we ever asked for an attorney general's opinion on any one of these three statutes that's what we need to do it it appears to me then because everybody's got obviously this is a very emotional issue but but the you know again I'm going to make my statement before every one of us in this room is trying to pay lawyer right now and I don't know that we have the ability or the capability to do that so I would want honestly I'd want that opinion requested before we adjust policy here I think to mirror cuz he's the guy or they're the guy he's the guy she's the guy whoever's down there is the guy right

067they're the ones that can interpret what the intent or they're the ones that's got to interpret the intent of what the state legislature did true corre okay so what would be wrong with that then is and I I'm not I'm not big on tabling stuff but you know let's discuss it but I feel like there's missing information I feel like I'm addressing this to you but because you said you really want to brought this up right okay that's the reason I'm address it to you uh I'm sorry Kati I didn't mean that but uh I think if we had that piece of the equation it would make structuring or addition deletion correction or whatever the uh policy should be that it would correspond at least we'd have some barometer right there that make sense maybe

068I think that would be very helpful because I we have a um tennessy organization of school superintendent and I reach out and ask how are you all handling library books and I'm like the only one and I'm going the largest majority of this state is um not to try to be political but it has the same political affiliation how in the world are we the only ones doing this and I would love to have that opinion because that would give Clarity because right now I feel like depending on the way it brings up depends on then then then would it be appropriate this is all right to table it postpone it till January until we can receive and and request that some one of y'all request the Attorney General's opinion specifically to all three you

069said it was three right Caleb there's three different yeah three we're coming at in three different ways and how do they H how do they intertwine or how do they conflict and what should we do is that fair make that request do you think we could have it by January January Maxwell yes just because we're not announcing every time we meet with the State Rep doesn't mean we're not having conversations with them um but that being in case what the Attorney General is going to do is he's going to hold up this law and he's going to say following this law will give you exactly what you need in your policy so I don't have a problem postponing it but that's not going to stop the flow I was trying to look at a way

070to go ahead and get in front of this so that we could get people in the district to help us start weeding through any other potential issues and continuing moving forward with what's best for the school system with that being said again I don't have a problem postponing it but it's just not going to stop anything and I think you're going to end up back here again discuss the same thing when you read the law I feel like the law is clear as Dr s just mentioned it's not happening maybe everywhere else but it it will also depend on a challenge so is is somebody going to challenge the Michelangelo statue of David or something like that are they going to CH well then when they challenge it it could be addressed then but to

071not address the other aspects of it because of that I think is unnecessary so that of course is My Strong opinion on it but um you know yeah for me it it doesn't it doesn't have to come from a challenge I guess that's my that's my confusion is that if it's under following this law any board member at any time could say Dr svin you're not following the law by you didn't remove that book from Michelangelo um that's my issue we can say we're not going to do it but any one of you could at any moment and until I have Clarity I'm very uncomfortable on what the board's direction is sharp thank you madam chair um Dr Sullivan um I think you know Mr Latrell at at Wilson County um they did in fact

072close their library at the beginning of the year and they took every single mature reading book out of there um I'm still trying to get a list but he might be someone that you could reach out to because they've already addressed this talked to okay well I don't have the list either I'm trying they they have somehow managed to interpret this law and they have already taken care of the issue so um if I get I'll get it to you thank you from my understanding it was anything that depicted any nudity whatsoever so Michelangelo Anatomy I'm not trying to speak for him but that is what I've heard from other sources but I have not seen the list either I've been asking yeah I don't believe I I don't know that that is the truth

073because I spoke with Joe Padia the board member and I don't I mean that's we're not talking about science manuals we're not talking about artworks we're talking about explicit sex but if you talk about nudity nudity is nudity if in Biology book or physics book you got a naked body there to me that's that's nudity whether you you it doesn't say in here if if if it just says nudity and it knocks those books out I think his law is terrible I think it needs to be put back on the stage and I tell you one thing that people don't realize with this law is that when it was discussed at St State Legislature the man that made it said that you do understand that by this law that it could mean that we ban

074the Bible from the from the from the libr from the school libraries now I don't want to go down that road I'd rather have the Bible in there than all the other books that's ever been written but that's where this law is terrible and if they keep going down it you know the The Hobbit and all those books that's Witchcraft and S saucery you know eventually that's going to be taken out too and you ask the kids if you take that that series out they they would go ballistic they think the greatest literature that ever been written but um you know it's just it's just a terrible law and you know the our state legislators did not I don't know I I I don't think that they realize the uh problems that is created I

075think we' really need to go back to them and say hey we need y'all need to look at this and when they all knew that it could be that we banned the Bible that really bother bothered me I mean that that's something I just I I just can't I can't R my I'm not going to go there I'll be honest with you I'm just not I'm not going to ban the Bible they can hang me up in the streets but I'm not going to do that Mr Tidwell I am so thankful that the state legislator wrote this law and the good that it would it is intended to do uh I don't I think it's such a far cry to say that the Bible could potenti be banned under the word and descriptions of this

076law I don't think there's any any challenge that could be made necessary to prove that it is meeting these definitions so there isn't a close call there as far as addressing this initially we are the policy committee full of board members and full of other members here to develop policy why cannot why can we not just add in there all right this doesn't apply to Anatomy this doesn't apply to science this doesn't apply to Greek mythology why why can't we write that in to what we're already talking about mes okay I understand what you're saying I I'm with you guys I understand this issue but here's the problem you put that Greek mythology book in the library and now becomes part of that statute that it has to be removed that's the problem if it's

077in the library it's subject for remov yes that's it's not it's not no it's not my opinion op no it's not my opinion are you are you a legal expert as well no but I've already asked tsba and I've asked tsba and they told me the exact same thing put yes that's exactly what they say if you put the if you put the the book in the library and is Greek mythology and it's and it's got Ro like the the the statue of David and is has all the frontal view it is subject to removal because it's in the library now here's the thing just because we remove it in the library the statues doesn't mean it's removed out of the system completely because if it's approved by a Tennessee state standard like the book

078um one of the books that we just voted to remove a teacher can assign that ask curriculum because it's state approved textbook by our standards it's approved by standards by the State Department of Education that's the problem with this law the law is only particularly looking at the libr books it's not looking at everything within the system that's what it makes it very complicated and second of all why it makes it even more complicated if you're saying you can remove it altogether why have two other ways or three ways to remove something if it's only one way that can be removed why you have to go through three different Pathways it makes it more complicated it's diluting at this point the how the strength of the law because you're having three different statues are competing

079against each other that's the problem we this problem to be resolved I agree we need to get an opinion with our um state general secretary and to go back to our state legislator to clean this out for us Mr tidal it's not it don't need to I mean it could be maybe revised a little bit but there's no they're not competing with each other because they are completely different paths you have obscenity which is described in here you have age appropriateness which may be very violent um you know it could be like a very violently written book that deals with some hard subjects but it's still appropriate for a certain grade band that's completely separate than uh even a a description of let's say Of Mice and Men that has a uh rape scene in

080it but it's done in such a delicate way that is completely different than the sexually explicit material that's been removed from this County and when it's removed from the county it's out of the County so I think that we still have the potential to move forward with this stands waiting Miss Maxwell I want to make one point really fast Dr salivan youed are you ask Miss Maxwell could you wait just one second one one second Mr Rosales yes who is who M stby Mr VA Mr V thank you um you said something just triggered something in my mind so part of this deals with l library book it's all about Library so if there's an art appreciation class I'm looking at you Dr s I'm going think with me through this and there's a picture

081of the Statue of David in there in full Glory it's okay over there but that same book cannot be in the library yes exactly so again and go let's go back to beloved which was one of the ones we removed right if a senior English teacher at Seagull makes that required reading does he or she have the ability to do that because she doesn't because it's been removed from the library or if it's outside the it's part of her curiculum he or she's curriculum I shouldn't be sexist right here it could be used if it was part of a textbook adoption and beloved is part of it one of the gr level I'll remember the one off the top of my head um is included as an allow Source in one it be used over

082here but it can't be used over here so this is a typical now we are not using it because right but but this is a typical it allow of a government situation the right hand don't know what the devil the left hand's doing I'm going clean it up from what I would say beloved was part of yeah beloved was part of the um last Ela text adoption for one of the high school English courses is about text so then to carry this thought one step further what again I'm going to ask my fellow committee members here what would be wrong with getting at least the Attorney General's opinion on all three of these right here where this is in Conflict where we can come back and F tune this we have a this is our

083policy right now correct this is our policy right now so why does why would we make an adjustment to it not knowing every piece of information that's out there right now that's what I have a problem with why would you change something until you know exactly what the state attorney general is going to say about it cuz that cuz Hey if any of this is found unconstitutional or somebody gets sued in this deal it's ending up down there he's got a he or she or that Department's got to defend this right true Jeff I'm correct if we if if we all end up court and that's what everybody keeps talking about they're going to be the ones that has to defend the case one way or the other so me personally I I just soon

084Us's get let's get you're talking about getting out in front of it Caleb let's get out in front of it right now let's get all the information on here before we adjust this policy that just makes sense to me I don't know I'm sorry one thing about the policy that bothers me it's like we're trying to rewrite that state law and we can't do that we have to conform to that state law where you like it or not now you know I'm like St let's find out what the Attorney General says before we find out and uh Mr Reed there's one thing while you asking him there's one thing in this complaint procedure that really concerns me a little bit we got to where a uh a student's parent can uh make a complaint stud

085students parent or Guardian May submit um a complaint now in my opinion an elementary school parent shouldn't be able to follow complaint on the book on in the library that's not at their school and I think that's what they admit to do that an elementary school parent shouldn't be able to make an appeal on a book that's in a high school yes you're correct the way the law is written it is that school's um parent or Guardian student our policy allows more so our policy is what allows it to be a student of any or parent guardian of any person in any school state law I not go about changing it back it's in policy talk to the legisl no it's in policy that is okay that is our local decision when I talk to

086tsp motion we change it back one motion at a time we do have a on the floor was it second yeah M Harvey okay Mr Reed can I just ask that when you ask for that opinion if we all vote to go that direction can you ask specifically on 496 B1 where it discusses nudity if they are meaning for that to include educational nudity for example a Biology book an art appreciation book or are they meaning to include that with the rest of that paragraph which really just speaks to sexually explicit nudity I think that's the biggest issue that we're facing I would just like to clarify for anybody that is watching or sitting in the audience we are not talking I said this at that meeting in September but I'm going to say it

087again we're not talking about talking about a man laying with a woman and loving one another and waking up in the morning these are not the books to my knowledge that that I have seen come before this this board for review we are talking about very mature content things that are making adult blush I read an article that talks about the impact of that type of material on children and and when I say children I'm I'm talking about under 18 not just Elementary School um there is science scientific data out there for those that are not aware of what pornography does to the brain even for adults but for children it's much worse um and again I'm going to stand by the statement that if if you want your child to read that go for

088it nobody is stopping you nobody is saying the books shouldn't exist the question is whether they belong accessible by minors within the school system and the school system be providing that material so so I just kind of a lot of things get said and a lot of things get I don't know what the word is I'm looking for but they do they get kind of sensationalized and oh they're going to remove Little House on the Prairie and I I mean it's just the the content that we're talking about um the majority of it is is pretty graphic and and just to reiterate the point of the three Pathways they are different and what might be age appropriate for high school isn't necessarily age appropriate for Middle School which is why the age appropriate law is

089a separate pathway um and the explicit stuff is something alog together different so I just had to throw that out there but Mr Reed if you wouldn't mind kind of getting Clarity on that specific section if they're willing to give that I think that would help answer a lot of questions okay I'd like to go with Miss sharp and then Mr scales if that's okay thank you um I I also have spoken to numerous people we're not talking about the Holocaust pictures of the naked bodies that were in the gas chamber or or David or anything like that it is the illicit sex the very obscene sex um that doesn't need to be in our libraries also would like to propose that the books that we do take out be sent to the public library

090for use and not destroyed Mr scales hearing U Miss D and Miss sharp speak for me I'm probably not the smartest person at this table but if I was just looking particularly on page one and I see any picture photograph of drawing sculpture they contains new that doesn't sound like what they're saying that's PR it's not showing context so I would like to I don't want children to be exposed to phography but I would like to see context as it pertains to this this very this is a very wide blanket and I I would love to give you intent what something Mr re we had a motion to postpone do we have a second I wasn't sure do we need to add to ask for the Attorney General's opinion on that y clean I'll second

091well I need a motion first who who wants to add that amendment that was my proposal I don't know if it needs to be I I would I would move to amend the motion then to add that uh Mr Reed request an attorney general's opinion uh related to all three Pathways and what was it you wanted the specific question uh it is for clarification on TCA 496 3803 B1 and include those numbers in that I would like to include all of them not just one particular statute because there's three three statues that all tie together so if we're going to get if we're going to get clarity and that's what I was saying the specifically she these statues that need to be added if me asking that wasn't to say not to get clared on

092all of them but that specific piece is the piece that is I think most concerning to Dr Sullivan and several other people all somebody nobody is saying that we're not we're making a motion and including that I would like for it to be specific to include all of the codes within that statute not just I will I will I prefer the motion to include specifically on the whole entirety of the code with it with all those statutes included in there I would like I would just like for it to be more specific yes yes yes yes that is what my amendment is thank you okay so can you read out that Monica or Jeff or one of you well a motion made motion made to postpone to the next policy meeting to am that request

093Attorney General on all statutes addressing pathway 496 [Music] 3831 that's motion right correct and for clarity purposes I'll so we understand I'll be asking for AG opinion addressing all of the actions we talk about tonight and how they work together in regards to addressing library books and how that will also come into question when a state approves a that's adopted as part of a textbook and if it's if it's um taken out of circulation or Library how does that how does that um how how does that work together with a state approved textbook that's been adopted by Theiss they other books they mayose other books but the teacher can still assign that particular assignment because it's still part of the standard it doesn't change that that's that's the question that we also need to understand

094too do we need on those [Music] did you did you vot to Second motion to amend yes motion to amend um all in favor say I I I any opposed okay now we're going to vote on the postponement uh all in favor say I I I any opposed I got one question yeah can we go back to oppos miss sh sharp post can we go back to what we talked about what we can change our policy to state that the child's parent are guarded that child think challenge the book in the library where the child attends can we we address that once we get the attorney generals because if it is in our policy we can we can address that down the road I'll make a motion we do that right now M he can

095just add it to the the long list of things that he's going to be asking as part of it Mr V has made a motion so just yeah may have made a motion do I have a second a second Mr Maxwell um I certainly do not agree with this motion uh I don't think that just because your child is not yet in the grade band that they may be moving toward that you have to wait till you get in that grade band to make a challenge uh that doesn't make sense to me I think it should be way broader than that uh Rutherford County taxpayers pay for this and the all of the funding that we get comes from Rutherford County taxpayers and with that being said I had originally when I brought this Library

096policy the first time had said that any Rutherford County taxpayer could bring it up because they're the one funding us uh it affects everybody so I don't think this Motion makes any sense especially if a child is in elementary school and they're going to continue up through the grades then their child is eventually going to be in a Grade band higher so I would appeal to the committee to vote this down Miss Max I thought we were voting for him for the general to get the opinion of the general attorney we're not voting to that's not what his motion is that's not what his motion motion Mr change this wording I'm so confused yes we did yes we just voted that we we we yes and we did the amendment so what I thought we

097were I thought the motion that you put was to I thought we were ien to talk to the ag ag is that what we're doing no I think Mr separate motion is changing wording in this policy am right and to postp this policy policy Mee so given that this comme has ACT postpone this policy I don't think any other motions this policy are appropriate tonight vstp we could entertain this Mr thank you okay next policy is 4.65 graduation requirements this is for discussion uh there's no proposed language I'll take it so this one oh you may not want to leave yet this one's going to have some fun conversation too um because I want some clarity on this one so we have moved to a um 4x4 at our high schools which allows our students

098to earn quite a bit more credits by the time they leave by the time they leave that allows students then um I'll wait till everybody leave then yep that way everybody can hear it Wills really okay ready now give it a minute okay I'm putting the popcorn machine in the corner all right so this one I brought forward um when we talk about policies that are impacting students this is one that is absolutely going to impact students so early graduation is if you go to page two it starts on line 28 we now have a early graduation for Redford County Virtual School the rest of our students who graduate in December do not walk until May in their traditional graduation however we have a problem with how they are still participating in school sponsored activities

099that student has technically graduated in December we allow them to come back and walk that is a school sponsored activity where the question comes in are they allowed to participate in prom are they allowed to participate in other extracurricular activities technically they're not no longer Rutherford County student um so we are looking to try to do something districtwide so all of our schools are the same there's not going to be a consensus among our High School principles of how to do this uh there will not be some of our high School principles allow students to bring a guest that and they have to go through certain requirements to be able to bring a guest if they're taking someone from prom some of our schools say it has to be a current student and so again

100there's not going to be a consensus this doesn't have to be decided tonight um we can decide on it in January that' probably be the latest but we do have students who are technically no longer are students who are wanting to participate in extracurricular activities um they can no longer par participate in sports now if you have a student who is the one we talk about spring Sports a lot so that's the question I get is they are participating in baseball softball track um boy soccer they've graduated in May the second week of May but they're competing in the state tournament they're still finishing their season of what they were included as before they graduated these students have graduated in December and are no longer our student it brings about a lot of challenges um

101whether that is jurisdiction for discipline um if they do something stupid if they have an an event um with another one of our students um if it's not illegal there's very little we can do there's just some issues there that I'd like for us to consider and discuss yes Miss Shar what does t daa say twsa doesn't um permit once they've graduated but this is more we have it with all of our FCA or or all of our CTE programs and so they all go and comp and continue to compete the big one for us is prom and prom is the one that as a director scares me because we have students who were no longer our students who have graduated coming back with students who are still our students on our campus Mr bot

102enough lawyer Jeff I got enough lawyer in me I've been around you guys forever what would what is the liability yeah do you have is that something you need to kind of think through or off the cuff if you got a student that's out the door in December and they're back on school property they're visitor I mean they're a visitor right that there's he y I mean I don't think so my my I mean that's I mean if you graduate I get it if you want to go ahead but that's I'm sorry you missed out um you know the next thing will happen we'll start having a prom you know have a winter prom a winter prom or a fall prom or something like that I mean maybe I don't know I mean Mr Cy

103you're the you know you're principal of one of the largest high schools I mean what's your initial right whatever is taking place after de okay I see what you're saying same thing is how long how long [Music] long is it 30 days postgraduation is it 60 days postgraduation is there some state state baseball championships in ch after school at graduation most spr right stby M stby are are we mostly like when you say because you're saying it's not really Sports because they can't participate in the sports at that point so other than prom what extracurriculars are we talking about CD competitions CTE competitions okay I guess my issue with prom well a couple things come to mind a we're trying to find as much room as possible so I would hate to do things to

104discourage people from not graduating early um but B I don't I guess I kind of and I don't know how you feel about this Mr crey but is it really that different from them coming to a football game or a basketball game and being a visitor there and I would I would think that most of our early graduates aren't discipline issue students usually yeah there's some and then the question would be is it with principal approval if that principal knows that student and is comfortable yes and if that principal knows that student and isn't comfortable maybe no maybe it should be a principal decision I don't know can we leave it up to the principal I mean that would we can as long as the board understands that there's not going to be consistency par

105are going to be frustrated and mad that SEO High School let them and smna high school yeah you're going to have a parent who upset that that it's not being uniform across the board M Maxwell yes M Mr greasy you're the high school principle here this probably affects you the most what are your thoughts you think it's better to be uniform yeah it [Laughter] so you're saying pass the B and let them Madam chair yes Mr arv Dr Sullivan what would it look like if we kind of said we do allow them to participate but there are certain stipulations like if they have been in violation certain Behavior codes or discip I mean could we not kind of make a uniform yes they're allowed but in these circumstances the principle could yes I would love

106that okay do I have a motion M Max Dr do you need to have an uh some time to come up with what that yes button yeah I said this didn't have to be voted on right now but it was one that this um conversation happens a lot and connected to graduation requirements it's a different policy under graduation activities is students who are at alternative school um we have in policy whether or not they're supposed to walk and not walk but it's not uniform across the district and I know board members that were on the board last year got complaints of this and you'll get them again every year until we have this clarified some schools say Dr Martin you'll know better than I do to the seventh semester how is it worded semer and

107semer in the third quarter so really past Christmas December and now after the third quarter in the second semester so it is the I don't know how you say seven and three4 seven semester and half the best that I for reason okay so s semester which was the December of your senior year but then some people wanted to keep holding those students accountable for their grades because in essence you could have a student who had a 4.0 through their seventh semester December of their senior year and then in the spring semester still pass all of their classes for the year but no longer have a 4.0 and so they were holding them hold held accountable through the third quarter of their senior year those are two things that I would like to bring someity to

108I'm talking just re you know the reason I wanted to leave it up to the principal there's some kids that would meet this criteria but from a principal standpoint you probably wouldn't I'm sure it's rare but there's certain kids if you had your choice they wouldn't come to prom and I think by giving the principal the the U the right to make that judgment call because uh I mean I hate to say it but there are certain kids that bu my choice they wouldn't come to prom you know Madam chairman I would I would move to allow Dr Sullivan and Dr Martin with consultation from The High School principles to yes to postpone this but to bring it back in January with their recommendations we have a second second all in favor say I I

109there you go for our high school principal was watching I guess we're going to decide by majority vote as well yes that was part of my motion yes Mr Cy have fun with that all right policy 5302 which is Sickle um this adds language to comply with the current mou we have with the Rea so you will see the language that is highlighted in yellow um is requested to be added to be in compliance with the agreement with the OA I'll make a motion we approve that second second all in favor say maxw sorry I'm so sorry yes page three on line one it says by written notice read it says you can withdraw Bank participation on June 30th we only allow one day or should it say by June because the teachers that's your

110summer break yeah but this is this is for sick bank it's something that is voluntary that teachers don't have to be in exactly do they know do they get a reminder yes they do they're M of they do thank good question we had a motion in a second all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes thank you next policy is 5308 sabatical leave um just like the one before this Lang or U the highlighted language excuse me um is requested to be added to be in compliance with the agreement with the Rea and then there is some other language that is requested to be struck through Miss Maxwell yes Mr T is this just a request for just to have an additional year added to their leave of absence I mean I guess

111I don't understand why we would change it they could just ask for it again the current um agreement that we have with the Rea has 2 years is that what you're ask I'm sorry I may not have no that's the current agreement has two years right um I guess my question goes back to you know when we when the board voted which I did not vote for theou but when the board voted for theou I mean that's a moving contract right so there can be changes to made so this may be updating from thatou I'm just curious why they asked for two years did they give a reason because could they just consecutively ask for another year off if they ask for a sabatical leave which is what this is addressing I'll clarify my question

112they ask for a sabatical leave and they get one year I think my recollection I think a lot of these people that do that are working maybe on their doctor and maybe it takes that long to get complete that uh program one year probably not another it is to further their education so that is do we do we know Miss Ridley why the Rea changed it to two years did they have any specifics I'm assuming it is to what Mr V was saying it master program would take more than a year usually correct I was not involved in the umou with the Rea so I was not part of those conversations so I don't know um but my assumption is for furthering this policy we're changing ours to mirror what is in the you correct

113okay Madam shair yes mrby uh Mr Tidwell I think it's because uh line four going into five says um basically no employee shall be eligible for more than one sabatical leave every seven years so they wouldn't be able to take the year and then go back and take another year um but I also have another question and I'm sorry if this sounds silly but what is a professional employee because I know when we've talked we've always talked about certified and classified and now there's a line that's calling a professional employee that includ it's certified professional is certified that's the language that's used in theou with the Rea it wouldn't be support staff like janitorial custodial or EAS it would be just teachers well not because this says certified and classified employees it does shall be

114enti so I don't understand if the professional employee is a classified employee then why is that line being added because that's already been addressed oh no I'm reading theou I'm reading the right now can we change that to the employee shall be entitled instead of professional do we even need the sentence yeah it's just that's the way it's written on theou so it's the exact wording toit to say yeah professional employees should be entitled to personal leave without pay for one year for studying or other reasons of value did they put this in here because some classified employees are EAS may be working [Music] on they already have a degree and they're going to get an extra degree and but they may not be working in comp no they're not yes sry you were on

115the committee weren't sorry yeah yeah classified wasn't included on the I'm sorry what classified staff were not included on theou it's in here right we incl I believe we made that change right so I understand it mirrors theou but as far as our policy is like do we have because I just feel like that's redundant and it makes things confusing when we're just repeating the same Lang language yeah I don't think it's needed I mean cuz we would I would go back to theou anyways right so I yeah I think that's fine can I make a motion to approve but eliminate the addition on line three going into four second M Maxwell I I still have another question why did we strike the language I'm sure you're just going to say because theou but why

116do we agree to strike the language employee must return to work for the district for a minimum of one year after the sabatical is ended I mean I'm learning about sabatical tonight so forgive me for my understanding but I'm guessing sabatical different than just quitting your job would be that you would be wanting to come back and service in this County that is allowing you to leave with the promise of potentially coming back um so I'm curious why that I'm just curious why this both lines were strict um are stricken that one and the educational leave is not automatically granted by the director of schools I know the second line was removed because they have to meet certain qualifications now um so I think it was Miss Darby and I worked on that language at

117on the floor that day to make sure it had to be not a hard to feel teaching staff there were multiple things so in the past one I've I haven't seen a sabatical leave requests still um so I'm two and a fourth of a year in and I haven't seen one I don't think it's very common so that would be the reason the second line was struck is education leave is not automatically granted because I wouldn't automatically grant them they have to meet those qualifications employee must return and work for the district for a minimum of one year after sabatical is ended speaking frankly some of those employees we may not want to come back for a year all right okay I guess let me ask this question for just to learn what is what's

118the difference in a sabatical leave and just quitting your job very different all right let me hear it let somebody tell me Tell Me Francis one thing sabatical leave you're not quitting your your job you're saying to the employer please hold my place of employment for the time being as I do this with the intent that you're going to come back to the workforce however it doesn't I don't know I don't I don't know this part in some cases they can come back but they may not be doing the same job they're just finding accommodation within within the employment of what it can be when you quit your job you literally quit your job you're not coming if you quit your job you're going to have to go back and start the process all over

119again and reapply when you take a sabatical you do not have to reapply for a job it's just a whole holding holding it just it's just holding your place of Ino that's all is yes M um two things Mr T I think this allows them to pay in full for their insurance if they want to keep the insurance while they're not working versus if they quit the job they don't have that option um and Dr Sullivan I don't think this speaks to it but I'm I'm now that we've gotten our salary stuff with the steps and the years and all that stuff do we need to put something in here that speaks as to whether or not that they don't earn they wouldn't earn a year because they wouldn't from the state of Tennessee so

120we mirror what they earn from the state of Tennessee and they would not earn work credit for that okay good question very good they not drawing the salary yeah but they struck out the language I'm sorry M Maxwell yes sorry getting recognition here but they struck out the language employee must return and work for the district for a minimum of one year so basically they could take us to battle keep the benefits enjoy all the the benefits of being employed without getting payment here while then also striking out the language saying they had to come back and that was kind of the the benefit for Rutherford County is yeah we can have the sabatical keeping the system everything's good uh but we'd love to have you back for that reason I'm just curious why they

121did that oh this is this was part of theou yes sir 20 years can they go to sabatical and do they get their retirement benefits they would not so that stopped so they would have to quit the retirement report to tcrs and do all those requirements they have to the way it's set up right now would be smarter for them to quit because they can get paid twice for the next year oh wow so did we just to be straight we've been talking about this for a minute did we decide we were going to strike the yellow the line three it leads into four about professional employees and be titled to personal leave okay second okay you have a second so um let's go ahead and vote all in favor say I I I any

122opposed opposed no do not Dr suvin I'm Sorry Miss Maxwell M Ros okay this thing this language say is employee must return and work that whole language speaks not just for our um certified but also our classified too right so this was a language that was worked out from the from the contract so now it includes everyone even though it was a something that was negotiated with the um certified sta the policy includes everyone theou does not but this St is because of what's in theou yes so now now includes everybody it would include everybody because of what the board has in line the first line certified and classified theou doesn't refer to classified staff right but we were striking it out so now everybody it's inquisit moving on uh next policy is 5.500 discrimination

123harassment of employees like the other two this language is requested to align with theou which is just to add one word and that is um that employees will not be uh discriminated on the basis of gender any comments discussion yes sir seeking to understand is there any reason we left out age discrimination good point those are still in the law we we still can't discriminate based on gender age I mean it's in the law it's just no need need that it and then a second point when we give uh discrimination harassment is toine we did not includ gender even though we included in the beginning I don't know it's [Music] necessary which line was that in Mr 6 through 8 when it begins discrimination Ras defined as conduct advances spoken skip spoken sexual rational racial

124ethnic or religious disability when we have it in the first sentence we included gender but it's not included as a definition it's including as part of the defin got it thank you and then I go back concern P understanding make age age in there I think it needs to be Madam chair yes M Miss Ridley yes do we need to look at the way the state law is worded and maybe just mirror the language there yes we can yeah well she said it includes age as well that's why I'm saying so it doesn't seem like our verbiage is matching I can't remember if it's um state or federal but one of those I mean prevents discrimination of a bunch of protected categories or maybe we can even just in Institute um employees shall be provided

125a work free an environment free from those described in TCA or if it's federal law and put the law number in there it doesn't matter to me I just don't want to add these two things and then come back later and find out we missed something else Madam chairman yes Mr VA just as a point of observation the Federal Fair Housing Act also includes familial status so I I mean that's something we've been trained on for years and I'm just wondering I'm just throwing that out there for discussion I don't know I if you if you're trying to cover all your bases right here cover them all I'm like Mr Hardman let's cover them all I'm just throwing that out there would you like to withdraw your motion and make another motion mirror ours what

126the state or include the state statute yes I think that's the best way don't you Mr Reed okay I think the motion was yes we have a second to that [Music] talks about when we're adding in the word gender what's the difference between sexual and gender sexual [Music] orientation sexual orientation gender as well is that is that a good understanding what Mr B has mentioned I'm sorry I didn't hear I Wasing my not I'm sorry I'm trying to yeah um I would like to not the difference between the term sexual and gender would that not address the same thing I'd have to look that up for you Mr Tidwell I don't know that off the top of my head I will be awaiting that answer thank you yes you're welcome so what are we going

127to have to postpone this now to wait for the answer second we can we can vote if You' want yes yes okay would you like to roll call Vote or would you like to okay all in on M can you read the motion Mr Reed please so the motion is to amend this to reflect the language state federal La just to clarify make sure I'm understand correctly we're is everyone [Music] clear we need to clarify State versus Federal there's some differences Madam um I'm always going to mix up yall's last names so sorry Mr V would you be agreeable to amending your motion to postponing this to the next policy meeting so miss Ridley can come back with what the state and federal laws say so that we can make a clear distin on what

128we're voting on I'd be interested to see which one supersedes because okay I don't special ed law that state state supersedes federal law but everything else federal law supersedes state law so it would be interested yes do we have second second okay all in favor to postponing until we can get clarity uh all in favor say I I any opposed okay post and I'll also have Dr Anthony here she led our umou team to better answer those questions that we have she wasn't able to be here tonight next policy is 6313 Spectators this would add language that adult supervision is also required at Middle School basketball games varsity and JV and Middle School football games varsity and JV this came as a request from the Middle School principles Dr Salan have we already been doing

129this we did what we did not have was Middle School just as High School principles have a problem with middle school kids coming to their games we addressed that we did not address the vice versa of high school kids leaving the middle school and now wanting to come back without adult supervision and so this covers both okay any other comments or questions yes Mr bot you look like no I was going move I was going to move for a proove oh okay I have a question y m Derby Dr Sullivan I'm just I think I'm a little confused because this doesn't address High School age kids having supervision it adds the middle school games for the middle schoolers to have supervision but it doesn't say anything about high it say Middle School age or younger

130I got ahead of myself that'll come to the next one okay yeah we had a principal meeting before fall break and we discussed that but it was after policy have been done so that'll come next time so here's a question and I'm just asking it because I don't know do we not just want to save at middle and high school sporting events or are we spec because I mean we have volleyball and we have Golf and we have soccer and we have we did that at first okay and then we had students who couldn't stay after school for their own to watch their own friends and so we have Middle School specifically was the one that addressed it volleyball soccer those sports that were right after school they couldn't stay right after school unless their

131parent came even though they technically never left and so we allowed them to stay sense the Middle School principal's brought up this policy was great we asked for it but you kept our own kids from attending our own games okay so that makes sense thank you so Mr VA you had a motion yes to approve yes M sharp seconded all in favor say I I any opposed motion passes and Miss Darby to hit your point that is why it only talks about basketball and football because the other sports for that okay last one policy 6.38 bus safety and conduct this was postponed from our last meeting um I believe Mr Mr Tidwell you had some questions at that time let me find those for you you asked on page two line two um to change

132the language so that the material is available for 5 days instead of 3 days um so I did confirm with um Mr Lee and Miss Barnett in transportation how long are um um camera system keeps videos it depends um because it's it's storage just like anything else so if there's a lot of activity it's less time if it's more activity um it's less time I said that backwards excuse me um but I think five days we could meet that requirement great thank you any other discussion uh M Maxwell yes Mr T trying to look back at it too the last policy committee I know we talked about issue track and I think that's the is that that's the conduct um about potentially adding that to policy I don't know if that was already in there

133I'll tell you the notes that I've found and this is was this was sent to me by Wanda over at transportation and because there has been some issues between bus contractors and schools on whether discipline is dealt out and whether they receive the discipline and whether the that they turned it in and if it got lost in the process whatever they have this new system it keeps track of it um so here was the language that was sent to me at the last policy I mean I'm just going to read this it has just seven short lines here but I think it's outlining outlining what issue track kind of would do and Dr you probably know I know Trey is not here tonight but you probably know this so correct me if any of this

134is off here uh first was conduct report conduct report is submitted to the school electronically so that's done by the bus contractor and I can send you this too so you don't have to write it all down a school will address the report within two days if the report has not been addressed then a reminder will be sent after two reminders so there'd have to be a followup reminder as well after two reminders transportation in intervenes after discipline is determined a parent letter parent letter will be sent to the parent and notifying the bus contractor so they're aware kind of what's been going on driver receives notification of discipline actions and completion of conduct report there's the bus contractor and then Transportation receives and follows all of the above report so it's just it it

135creates procedure uh or it puts in policy the procedure that's already happening with issue track that way there's no back and forth between cuz I I was on the bus committee last year and I got a ton of emails about well I turned it in and they didn't do anything and then maybe maybe they did do something or maybe it got lost or when they followed up and there just was not a lot of I think across the board there's a ton of consistency but there were pieces of inconsistency so that yeah if the the is willing uh we can have Monica prepare the language which is the language sent from Transportation about how issue track works and we're just adding it to policy maybe we don't got to postpone it to the following meeting

136but well I guess really wouldn't matter if we did or didn't because it wouldn't be implemented immediately anyways it's already occurring yeah it's already happening so I will say our bus discipline where we have struggled this year is some of our drivers aren't comfortable with technology and so having accurate reports of discipline if you looked at reports from now compared to last year it looks like discipline's down on the bus and that is not accurate and so what we have asked principles to do is if they have a bus contractor that tries to hand them or just talk to them at a written notice is to let us know then Transportation calls the bus contractor and says you need to do submit this discipline form the way it needs to be done um because the

137secondhand portion is kind of how it got lost so we're still in the implementation stages it's not we're only 2 months into that but and it's it's not reflecting the highest number of discipline issues like we need we know we have right now but I don't have any issue with that and they do they have training with this new technolog I assume they did yes okay do I have a motion we can Mo to approve approved D second all in favor say I any opposed well that would be our last policy for tonight so ijn okay we a jar that was