Board of Education Meeting - August 22, 2024

001welcome you to the Rutherford County School System August 22nd 2024 regular meeting we will now have the Pledge of Allegiance Miss Claire Maxwell will introduce Our Guest thank you uh tonight we have Dr Sullivan's father Mr Sully Sullivan with us this at our meeting this evening and I've asked him to S the pledge [Music] [Laughter] I pledge Alle to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you sir thank you Sully we appreciate that as we look at our moment of silence I have several things I would like for us to remember please remember the families of two of our employees we have had a bus driver to pass away and we also have a

002bus Aid who is in the hospital in critical condition I would also like us to remember the family of Mr Robert P who's with us tonight a county commissioner his wife Pat is very very sick thank you Lord I would like to draw your attention to the regular agenda do I have any questions or comments on the regular agenda yes sir I've got one I notified the board of this last night under the partnership between krol reord County and the school system um and working through that one of the recommendations that you will see that has changed is to only use one field at the kol um Ballpark and instead to utilize the bucanan second bucanan field for Middle School softball that will put High School softball and Middle School softball both at the bucanan

003complex which is our school which would also remove some of the burden on the kitro community field as well and and we'll talk of course more about that later but that is a change that has been made to the agenda um board's notified of that as well thank you anyone else seeing none I'll entertain a motion move to approve second thank you all in favor say I I all oppose no anyone wishing to abstain motion passes I now direct your attention to the consent agenda do we have any questions or additions to the consent agenda and I know Dr San you have one we have three additions we have three sped educational assistance that we have added um as the board knows this is one of our hardest positions to feel and I would request

004us to go ahead and approve these instead of waiting until the next board meeting in September so that they can start so those are the three sped EA positions that have been added those are the last three on there okay anyone else have a question or comment about the consent agenda seeing none I will entertain a motion move to approve thank you second thank you all in favor say I I I all oppose no anyone wishing to abstain motion passes on next now direct your attention to public comment before we go into public comment I would like to say that our public comment is supposed to be by policy 30 minutes long we happen to have 11 people who have signed up rather than 10 we uh you are allowed 3 minutes so obviously that

005is 3 minutes more than it would be if I was sticking straight to the rules I would like to ask if we could have a motion to suspend the rules and allow all 11 people to speak tonight moved thank you do I have a second thank you all in favor say I I I I'll oppose no anyone wishing to abstain we will allow all 11 people to speak one second let me go to my next folder the first person we have is Carrie Lambert would Carrie Lambert please come forward Miss Lambert you know that in front of you you have you have your little box that tells you about your time and you have three minutes thank you very much thank you um I'm here tonight to speak about the seven books that are being

006challenged for removal in our school libraries there are other people tonight that will speak to the importance of these books and why they should remain on our shelves I'd like to address a slightly different issue with removing books from our libraries I've heard people talking about this book saying they spoke to a board member who said there's really nothing they can do their hands are tied that these books as important as they might be violate the new state law that went into effect this summer good news your hands are not tied at least not in the way you think this is the United States of America and we are one of those States we are all united through the constitution of this country and we have a thing in our law called the supremacy clause

007which states that if a local or state law violates federal law or the Constitution it is an invalid law and not enforceable so not only can you keep these books in our libraries for our students to access it's actually what the law tells you you have to do I've also heard a board memb say well the line has to be drawn somewhere where would they draw that line I'm assuming they're referencing rcla so I'd like to answer that question as I feel it is a very important question we would never draw a line we are not highly educated experienced experts in library sciences and neither are you but our Librarians are they know what the laws are and how to properly develop a collection to meet the needs of their patrons in this case students

008it is their job to draw that line based on their years of education and experience the Supreme Court has also drawn a line they have affirmed more than once that children have the same First Amendment rights as everyone else and that the only materials you can legally remove from libraries based on its um content is obscene material they came up with a very specific test to determine if something is seen the Miller test which says You must take the work as a whole cover to cover and determine that it's only purpose is to appeal to the puan interest and that basically means that you have to have a physical response to that material that both sexually excites you and makes you want to vomit at the same time okay it does not mean sex or

009nudity both of which the Supreme Court has ruled are not obscene so we would never draw a line but we do support the line the Librarians and the Supreme Court have drawn removing these books from our schools doesn't respect the experts or the law but rather caters to a small but vocal minority in our community while stripping away our children's rights and putting them at a disadvantage to students in other districts that can access materials they need for full education including AP credits our children won't have the ability thank you Miss Lambert thank you Mr Brian seedorf Brian I don't I don't think you've spoken up here before but that's your timeline the little yellow light will tell you you're about to run out of time the red light tells you you have we do

010you may begin my name is Brian seedorf and I'm a citizen of Murphy's Boro Tennessee I have worked in Rutherford County schools for two decades teaching 9 years in Middle School Ela and 11 years as a high school librarian I love my job I'll be honest though the co years were taxing also taxing was in 2022 when I suffered a brain stem stroke missed half of the year and had to learn how to walk again the school Community was amazing and after I came back to work you Dr Sullivan came by one day to check on me and I will never forget that but as for mental fatigue last school year was the hardest for me professionally Librarians were being publicly vilified in our community there were constant book challenges there were list of books

011during testing weeks in April there were these books this year that were on the first day of this school year last year I let the stress get to me too much where it affected my mental health this year I vow not to let this affect me like it did last year this is what I want I want you to build relationships with your Librarians we are Educators we are parents we are grandparents we are siblings we are friends we are good people if you have questions or issues about library books please just just talk to us communicate with us we would be glad to have you come to our library for a cup of coffee and discuss the issues and we will make time for you m r m rosalis came last May and she

012was able to see us take up 2,300 laptops and see that process at work the Librarians of Rutherford County are Innovative we are a committed group we are required to have master's degrees in library science for our profession many of us are members of the Tennessee Association of school librarians a hardworking organization that strives every day just to make us better professionals we have decades Decades of combined experience with librarianship and we do not take those values for granted so yet again even though with some of you Schoolboard members is leaving this is my request just talk to us just get to know us as people as Educators come visit whatever Library you want to come to there's coffee waiting for you when you arrive thank you thank you [Music] [Applause] Bri Miss Daphne Gamble

013pull your mic down sweee there you go you go this uh when the time Runs Out can I finish my sentence or do I just cut pardon me when the time Runs Out do I finish my sentence you finish your sentence if if it comes on R then finish your sentence yes ma'am but you you you hadn't started so when the green light comes on you're good okay all right I would like to comment on the potential removal of 12 books from R County Schools I believe these books should remain in school libraries in order to meet the definition of obscenity under state law the average person applying contemporary Community standards would find that the work taken as a whole appears to the purian interest the average person applying contemporary Community standards would find that

014the work depicts or describes in a patently offensive I might just pronounced it well you know what I mean uh sexual cond conduct and the work taken as a whole lacks serious artistic literary political or scientific value and that is directly copied from state law the criteria for harmful to minor is similar being any description or representation in whatever form of nudity sexual excitement sexual conduct excessive violence or pseud matistic abuse when the matter of performance would be found by the average person applying contemporary Community standards to to appeal to predominantly the puant shameful or morbid interest of minors is patent offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is beautiful for minors and taken as a whole like serious literary artistic political or scientific value for miners

015that is also directly copy and pasted a description of sexual activity isn't inherently obscene for example beloved in homegoing depicts sexual violence that occurred during slavery these depictions aren't obscene rather they are heartbreaking and necess necessary for understanding the realities of slavery these two books have won awards beloved won the Nobel Prize the highest honor a book can earn now I'm concerned about the precedent removing these books would set if we ban fictional descriptions of historical events are non-fictional descriptions next are we going to ban a book about the Holocaust for depicting nudity a book about Unit 731 for fermenting r the Bible and what about Shakespeare many of his books have sexual content in crude jokes and if beloved a Nobel Prize winner doesn't have enough literary value for this law then nothing will

016the loss of any of the seven books to being discussed today would be a tragedy thank you for your time thank you [Applause] NY Angela Frederick hi Angela wait for the green light he's ready okay I'm Angela Frederick I'm a resident of Rutherford County thank you to the board for allowing me to speak this evening back in April the Tennessee State Legislature passed House Bill 1828 sponsored by representative Gino bulso this law does designated several titles as official state books one was Roots by Alex Haley and one was Civil War a narrative by Shelby foot one of the other laws they passed in April was house bill h43 which states that material that has descriptions of excess violence must not be maintained in a K12 Library so by this reasoning our K12 libraries can't shelf

017copies of our own official state books if it doesn't sound logical to you it's because it's not beloved by Tony Morrison was published in 1987 Wicked by Gregory Maguire was published in 1995 these books have been available in K12 libraries for several decades how is it that thousands of students passed through school with these books on the shelves and yet suffered no ill effects from their presence is it because a book suddenly a book nobody ever labeled OB scene suddenly became so no it is because the state of Tennessee has decided to start labeling books that aren't truly obscene or profane with those descriptors it is because libraries and Librarians have become political fodder in a current culture War the law that you're going to cite as your reason for removing these books is an

018unconstitutional law it will be shuck down in court when it is are you going to reinstate the titles that you have removed the titles you're considering removing are for older students who are approaching adulthood it is developmentally appropriate for teenagers to mentally wrestle with difficult topics it is also excellent preparation for higher education as a a resident of Rutherford County I have a vested interest in our Public Schools preparing our students properly for the real world and shielding them from books like these does not prepare them for anything but ignorance thank you thank you Angela [Applause] Jason Patterson how you doing tonight I'm Mr Patterson hey good to see everybody tonight I'm Coach Patterson I'm the baseball coach at Central magnet high school and just wanted to tell you a little bit tonight about myself

019about our program kind of what we're looking to do and wanting to do I've been fortunate to to see Central magnet baseball from day one and during that time we have been at starlex for most of this time and have had a great relationship working with them out there uh and having a lot of success during that time period during that time period we have won eight District championships five state tournament trips had 14 All State players 14 players to play college baseball we've been named by the American baseball coaches association have received the team excellent award in academics we have had multiple winners of the tbca and the Oldtimer award which takes academic excellence and baseball accomplishments into receiving that scholarship during that time though we have not really had what was a full-time

020field we we have won districts we have had to sometimes move to different locations where we may have possibly had a home place to play during that time during open facility times finding a place that was ours during that time since 2019 we have spent $33,000 just in securing the use of the field not the other stuff on top of it during that time by not having a field other teams in the county and other teams around the nation host tournaments are able to sell concessions are able to have signs are able to do other things to raise money to help generate for the program that we do not have that we ask our parents to just donate and do do we find ourselves traveling on the road for many tournaments across the state we

021have gone we have played from the fagat to going to beat at a sto team that Austin Riley was their cleanup hitter and was ranked fourth in the country in Atlanta since I've been there at Central magnet we have been ranked number one on several occasions throughout the 15 years last year we had two players sign college baseball scholarships wanted a division one level and we continue to Excel on the field and my point point is is I watch these kids every day battle compete we want to be able to go somewhere on open facilities Day by the twaa rules wherever we partner with when we go to a hotel with these kids on the road we get emails back talking about how they were the most behaved kids they've been around we represent this

022County well we've been successful wherever we end up whatever we end up doing from that phase we are going to be a great representation for that our kids do a good job on and off the field we've had two perfect AC test scores the last couple of years as well uh from our baseball players we get after it we have also set uh two of the top five alltime stolen base leaders are from us in the state we are ready to have our own place ready to get after it good to appreciate you considering that and just look forward to working with whoever and however and what we need to do to raise and get after it from that point just appreciate your time thank you for letting me speak thank you Mr P [Applause]

023Shane Wick meire Wickwire I'm sorry Wickwire I'm sorry I know your name I am so sorry good evening I'm Shane wire I'm executive director of The Springs Empower academy in Smyrna and I just wanted to talk about uh how our opening is going so far we've had a amazing opening at the Boys and Girls Club at Smyrna we have just under 200 students k25 and nine classrooms with nine certified teachers we have five Aces which are like super classroom AIDS we have a part-time music teacher serving all students and that's three times a week we have contracted with project play to serve our special needs students our families are incredibly happy with their School of Choice we've been working on this for a few years and it's wonderful to finally see the hard work payoff

024in the students smiling faces and the families our Charter School serves all students general education special education and students with 504s some grades are on the wait list some grades still have seats available so apply now prior to our school opening a couple weeks ago we had a uh ribbon cutting ceremony with the smna Chamber of Commerce it was a wonderful ceremony and we appre appreciate everybody who came out thank you Tammy sharp for coming out and joining us there I'd like to add that in spite of a ton of support from ruford County schools there has been some bad Charter School press in May and June and it did negatively impact our enrollment a lot of what was put out there was inaccurate Empower Academy has certified teachers we service all students Kinder through

0255th we utilize state of improved curriculum we follow State Standards our teachers are held accountable through the same methods as Redford County Teachers as am I and in spite of what you may have heard charter schools are not taking 12 to15 million from ruford County all students are funded the same in the state the funding model timing is a little bit different where Charters get funded monthly and the district gets funded at the end of the year it is an inconvenience I understand that but there is no Financial loss overall in fact our authorizer Rutherford County Schools gets paid by uh Empower Academy annually I'd also like to add there are some things like our students are eating from vending machines which is uttered nonsense I've been in education for over 25 years and I

026never seen students eat so well um it's a mandate from our County and from the state that we have healthy meals for our students and we have a great company doing that we are also mandated by the state to have uh armed SRO at every Public School unfortunately the charter schools in this area did not get an SRO because apparently there weren't enough to go around so we've had to fund that on our own which is a bit of a challenge uh I will just add that in spite of those challenges we're doing well and we thank you for your support thank you Mr [Music] wigu Robert commissioner Robert P well it's kind of odd being on the other end of the desk here but I appreciate yall allowing me to come to speak I

027came to speak tonight about the kitel community and the ball fields first of all I want to thank all of y'all for the help that you've given our community out there especially Dr Sullivan in working with us um the conservation board and what they're doing for us uh we've got some questions from our community about the contract that's coming up I think some of it was just finalized today you know that there were some changes and our folks hadn't had a chance to see it and what I'm here to ask you is and and I've already talked to Dr Sullivan about this too is to if you vote vote contingent Upon Our Community having a chance to look at this and understand it and how it would affect them how would affect the school system

028too and give us a chance to accept it or reject it uh if you can't do that I would ask you to vote no and not because I don't think this is a good deal I think it may be a win-win for both people you know for this baseball group over here that's very outstanding but the people at kitra want to make sure that we have facilities for our children there not that we've got anything against Central although they were always our Rivals growing up but anyway uh I appreciate the time for y'all letting me speak and uh appreciate all of you thank you thank you commissioner P Mr Casey [Music] vaugh I had a big speech written out for tonight and and I kind of dropped it I want everyone to know I'm a

029proud parent of a Central graduate by the way uh we're not against Central 100% Las CES and Kell both have not had time for open discussions for Community meetings and more things we had an emergency meeting last night for our elders and pillars of the community 50 plus people including Mr Coy young hands off to him showed up we are not in agreement our community is very torn 80% of them against this 20 W more information the 80 that are against it are willing to hear the more information but we need time have you did traffic studies for last castes what does this look like for our community at kitel we just want time all we're here tonight to ask for is another month I'm sorry three of y'all aren't going to be here one

030of the new fellas that's going to be here present tonight I hope the other two are uh but we deserve time we deserve communication same thing these folks are asking for right here our leader of our community Mr P just spoke we need more time I'm asking tonight not for a dead no vote for a postponement for time for communities to speak together for time for communities to let y'all do your job Tru traffic studies from 96 traffic studies for John Brad schedule studies for everybody we need more laid out than just hey it's time and we need this we need communication from government Kell has been burned by other governments many times we don't want to be burned again we had I'm not going to get into other subjects we just want time we

031want time to talk about this time to see if it's right we're considering starting a whole Community Park Board we have one one family and two families speaking for our whole community that were at our meeting last night and didn't listen to our concerns we told them we did not want this sign we said we need time to consider this as a community we are out there putting our Blood Sweat and time in I consider I I understand the conservation boards give us a lot of money but they're not the people out there with the blood and sweat I've give a lot of money from my company my man hours my man out there working I started this with Brian Herold 15 years ago when I didn't even have kids at K I've been through

032this this is volunteer work for me I'm begging for time for my community that's all I'm begging for thank you thank you sir Rachel ravas think about your favorite thing to do outside of work and not having a place to do it or a fear that that might be gone as a child or a student I am Rachel Revis a school counselor and a parent of two students at Central magnet Benson and Camden one who has participated in bball and sports programs at Central since sixth grade and is an 11th grader and one who is currently in seventh grade my older one has looked forward to being able to drive to his baseball practices and take ownership of that and now does but since middle school Central moms have car pulled and sacrificed to get

033their kids to whatever gym or field they borrow and spaces have always been a challenge teaching these diligent kids that sometimes things aren't always perfect and being able to compromise and persevere through the difficulties of not always having their own spaces creating DED D at communication between parents and coaches to make sure kids have their EXT extracurricular activities parents even sacrific their own careers at times to make sure these kids get to practices we appreciate the city who has always provided some of these spaces for the central M magnet baseball program that sounds as if that is now coming to a closure and I would love to see my students be able to have their own space that is consistent adequate and safe for their needs and since the city is already having us planned

034for this I feel we should have the permission of votes to get started or to plan for a finish by the time it needs to be done further these kids are hardworking students who dedicate their days to diligence and commitment of school and Leadership and just as you need outside activities of belonging fun and extracurricular they need this activity and a space to do it they as other students in RCS will grow up to be leaders in in their Community they need to stay engaged in their school through their extracurricular activities and for some this is baseball M binon and camon are students who stay connected to their school through their activities and love for their Sports as well as their extracurricular involvements for some of these students baseball is the only activity they have

035that they may use as a coping skill or an outside release from the many things they do throughout their week at school Central magnet usually produces a good baseball program and the students need to know their worth having their own field the students have sacrificed over the years of just being provided for what is available to them even in the Elementary Magnet School of mcfaden where their own art Pro program must be fundraised by parents as a mom growing up with both students in the magnet schools of Rutherford County and who is grateful for the opportunities and doors the schools have opened to my kids' future I feel it is time for the students to have a stable and provided for space of their own to continue their baseball these kids have given up the

036opportunity of attending schools such as seagull Oakland riale and others as well as mine also gave up being coach brother thank you m gra thank you I hope you can see it thank you Alec Lanter I almost hate to bring the topic back to books but I'm going to uh books and the ideas that they contain can be a very divisive issue so I'd like to take a moment to talk about an experience almost everyone here shares being a parent I assume that it goes without saying that we love our children why else would we be spending precious afterwork free time at a Schoolboard meeting when was the last time you told your child that you loved them I know that personally I don't say it often enough and definitely not as often as I

037think it I would not be at all surprised to learn that most parents have that thought occasionally so how can we as parents tell our children we love them it's a tricky question my daughter has had that iconic teenager eye roll and dad you're embarrassing me whine down pat since she was six so even when I tell her I'm not sure she's getting the message but maybe a better question would be how can we avoid telling our children we don't love them how many times have we as parents done the thing we felt was right in the moment only to later realize that we are sending a very different message than we intended I keep telling you why do you keep doing that that phrase has definitely come out of my mouth more than once

038and what I meant was I'm trying to keep you happy and safe please stop doing that but I'm sure that instead what she heard was I am so disappointed why can't you be better better walking that line between protecting our children and encouraging them to be independent morally and ethically aware adults is the most difficult thing most of us will ever have to do in our life now what does this have to do with removing books from school shelves books are one of the ways our children explore their world and learn about themselves and the people around them books contain characters events and ideas that can be explored safely without doing things which can physically or emotionally harm them and most importantly books give our children the words and tools they may not have in

039order to help ask us for help I don't think there's a parent in this room who would hate their child for asking a question regardless of what they ask each of us would try to help them make the choices that we feel will keep them safe and helpy happy so now let me ask what message do we send to our children if we remove a book that speaks to them books that tell them other people have thought experienced this and gotten through it and it is safe to talk to your parents about it and ask questions what message do we send our sons and daughters when we say that this book A book which you relate to and that has given you the words you need to be able to ask me for advice is

040so repugnant that only deviants would want to read it are we telling them that we love them and want to help them regardless of your views on gender identity religion homosexuality Merry Christmas versus happy holiday pineapple and pizza or any topic that is used to divide communities wouldn't you rather your child come and ask your advice than than be made to feel that you would hate them if you found out they needed you and were trying to put into words which are found in a book what they need your help with thank you Mr [Applause] Lander Jennifer Edwards yes ma'am give that baseball coach his field that's the first thing I need to say but I am also here about books but they need a field um I want to tell you a little story

041very quickly about a real life person named Margaret Garner she went by the name of Peggy um she was enslaved and she escaped with her four kidss and her husband and crossed the uh Ohio River while I was frozen and then got captured and sent right back down toward New Orleans um she decided to jump off that boat with a kid um she also had previously attempted to kill her other kids cuz she did not want them return to slavery she knew that death was better than being enslaved um her kid when she jumped off the boat died she did not they pulled her off and then they tried tried her not for murder tried her for stealing property because the kids weren't considered property they were just slaves that's real that happened in America

042it is also what the book beloved that Tony Morrison wrote is based off of is based off of a true story I no longer have kids in your system right now at this time my 22-year-old graduated from Riverdale and my 10-year-old goes to city school but obviously he will be coming to you soon so I'm here as a mom because kids have to have options they have to have books to read I want to start by telling you that censorship does not result in education the pursuit of knowledge or in intellectual growth and I first read beloved on my own as a 15 or 16 yearold Oprah was talking about it so I read it and instantly to this day if you ask me my favorite book is beloved and it's not because it was

043an easy read I had to put it down walk away for a couple days and come back to it it is a lot but I was so PR profound to me at 15 and 16 that even though what you are doing right now doesn't affect me or my kids directly I'm here after hours when I could be doing a hundred other things I'd rather do I am here to let you guys know that banning any books at all is not okay just because is that counting down okay just because what you don't like just because you don't like what the mirror shows you doesn't mean put the mirror down instead it means you lean in you dig in you find out why it bothers you this is called growth Thomas Jefferson he had children with

044his enslaved people it is just part of it sex rape it happened I know those are themes in Beloved but the biggest theme is about slavery about how the mother want it better for her child that is the going theme in Beloved also as our young person over here said it won a Nobel Peace Prize I'm skipping some stuff but in my last 3 minutes don't ban books but don't ban beloved thank [Applause] you thank you for all of you coming out and thank you to the board for allowing everyone to speak on this tonight they need to be thanked because they didn't have to do that for you so but we wanted to hear what everyone had to say so here we go and we are ready for number seven legal so we have

045ad of County transfer student number one the board has been requested to admit a transfer student from another school system under discipline the student was remained to alternative school for possession of a THC vape according to policy 6.31 18 the board may deny admissions of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another another school system while under suspension or expulsion director of school's recommendation is to admit and place into alternative school the board however has recommend a motion to admit or deny the admission of this attct County transfer student as presented any comments or questions seeing none I will entertain a motion to admit or deny the admission I move to admit second okay admit and place into an alternative school all in favor say I I I'll oppose no

046anyone wishing to abstain the student will be admitted and placed into an alternative school number two at County transfer student number two the board has been requested to admit a transfer student from another school system under discipline the student is remained for threat of mass violence according to policy 6. 318 the board may deny admissions of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another school system while under suspension or expulsion director of school's recommendations to deny admission however the recommended motion is for the board to admit or deny the admission of this at County transfer student as presented I now entertain a motion to admit or deny the admission of this at County transfer student move to deny second all in favor say I I all oppose no anyone wishing

047to abstain deny admission number three at a County transfer student number three the board's been request requested to admit a transfer student from another school system under discipline the student is remained for possession of a weapon other than a firearm according to policy 6.31 18 the board may deny admissions of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers to another school system while under suspension or expulsion director of school's recommendation is to admit and place into alternative school recommended motion the board has both options to admit or deny the admission of this Atta County transfer student as presented I'll entertain a motion to admit or deny this out of County students motion to admit second thank you all in favor say I I I'll oppose no anyone wishing to abstain we will

048admit and place into an alternative school number eight director of school evaluation tool we've all had time to take a look at that this is in compliance with our 60 days from July 1st in which we must come up with an evaluation tool I will now open the floor for discussion is there any discussion there's no discussion on the evaluation to I will ask for a motion move to approve the evaluation tool as presented thank you may I have a second second all in favor say I I I all oppose no anyone wishing to abstain motion passes financial matters all right number nine financial matters Tab four fund 177 fund balance and expenditure approval this amendment moves funds from account 34685 committed for capital projects to account 91300 335 maintenance and repair buildings buildings in

049the amount of $2 million historically the ending fund balance has been used to allow the long lead materials and emergency Acquisitions to be ordered prior revenues specifically property taxes being collected the movement of this money from fund balance will go to fund the LED lighting projects in fund 177 recommended motions to amend the 2425 capital projects budget fund 177 by reducing account 34685 committed for capital projects and by increasing account 91300 335 maintenance and repair services buildings in the amount of 2 million is presented as we discussed the other night uh we have 8.3 million in this account it is about a 199 million overall fund and we want to go ahead and get some of our projects moving before this property tax comes in in December January or February have questions or comments on

050this particular financial matters Miss Bron Miss Rosales I am really excited to get this program going so that we can finally put this inside the building so that we can see some savings by us by um using these la lady lights just in case you did not hear the discussion from Tuesday night we will start with our Sports Fields first so that we can make sure am I right Trey yes ma'am okay that'll be the first project we do and then we will move into the inside so questions or comments anyone oh Mr Tidwell I'm sorry I just want to point out the reason we're starting with athletic fields is because of some of the ility issues we ran into some of the other schools where we had lights actually fall down and do destroy

051some property so there's a safety part there that's why we're starting there yes thank you for pointing that out because that is true yes sir I'd also add along with the polls that are irreparable in some of our places we also are not within twaa lighting standards in most of our sports facilities do you agree with that Mr Lee yes sir any more questions or comments on fund 77 fund balance approval I will entertain a motion move to approve second thank you all in favor say I I I'll oppose no anyone wishing to abstain motion passes number 10 engineering and construction all right so what we are looking to do just as a reminder um in the spring of 2023 we were notified by the city that we needed to look for alternate facilities for

052Central magnets baseball and softball programs both middle and high school uh Central is unique and outside of Eagleville they are the only school that has both middle and high school um in their school um what we are looking at here is in October of 2023 October 10th and October 12th we discussed possibly building on the Whitworth Buchanan site um it was at that time a unanimous motion to explore other avenues and not spend $2.5 million estimated for that and this is a result of those conversations those conversations began the very next day after that Thursday board meeting um and I'll read this and then be happy to answer any questions what we are looking for again is for long-term solutions for Central um to summarize really quickly the two softball programs Middle School and High

053School the Middle School softball program will go at banan the high school program will go at banan and that is a change from what was presented on Tuesday night uh to hopefully be able to work with the community and of kitro and also be able to use a site that's already one of ours it also puts both programs at one facility High School baseball would be at Las casses which is a school property owned field connected to Las casses school and then the one outstanding that we do not have a permanent solution for is Middle School baseball and that is the request to use the kital field after I go through all this I'll also read the agreement the pending agreement that we have with the Rutherford County Conservation board so RCS request to provide

054support for Rutherford County Recreation facilities jointly used by the community organizations and future school teams K Fields County Recreation Central Magnet Middle School baseball storage building of $10,000 portable baseball mounts and infield baseball or for infield work baseball $110,000 if an agreement is reached with other entity for Central Middle School baseball or if agreement is not approved by other entities the funds for this facility be reallocated to other projects the other part of this partnership involves rord County schools and County wreck on the old kol gym which is um Rutherford County school property Buck Cannon field this is going to be high school softball a storage building for $10,000 anfield working bases for $10,000 rebuild the electrical work but maintenance staff is going to provide um the labor for $25,000 scoreboard and controls for 45,000

055and then one bleacher for 25,000 the change was Buck Cannon the other field at Buckhannon Middle School softball infield working bases 15,000 fence repairs 15,000 and the bleer at 25,000 and then last cassa school is high school baseball storage building at 10,000 fence workor at 25,000 infield work and affordable Mount at 10,000 scoreboard 45,000 electrical work 25,000 and then lights and poles for the facilities CU they are required for high school be budgeted as part of the LED lighting transition in fund 177 recommend in motion to approve as presented utilizing budgeted funds and 141 76100 7799 other Capital outlay if it's okay I'll go ahead and read this agreement that has been um the board has a copy of this uh I definitely hear the community concerns of making sure that we communicate with the

056community however as a government entity we have to work with other government entities um in a community you're never going to have 100% agreement on anything and so while we definitely respect that kit rues one of our schools and one of the areas that we respect we also have to work on agreements with who is in control of the fields and who has ownership of the fields so the parties involved were the Kell ball Club retherford County Board of Education retherford County Conservation board purpose and this is almost a mirror copy of what we do for County Recreation for our um County W junior pro basketball baseball and our soccer programs as well so very similar agreements this agreement outlines the terms and conditions for using the kit park by the central magnet school for

057baseball programming in collaboration with the kiter ball club and under the management of the ruford County Conservation Board number one term of agreement this agreement should be in effect for a period of two years upon completion of the two-year terms both parties will reevaluate the terms and conditions for potential renewal or modification maintenance responsibilities the reord County Board of Education will assist with the upkeep of both fields and park to ensure they're maintained to a high standard scheduling and priority Central Magnet School collaborate with the Kell ball Club to create a mutually agreeable schedule for using Kell Park KBC will kit ball Club will have scheduling priority for all activities at the Park Central magnet will be allocated two days per week Monday and Friday to schedule games I'll add a caveat that is why

058we have had an agreement as well with the city to try and use one field because we realize that a tmsaa school has to have scheduling priority in some a in most Avenues and so we want to leave that available to us for one year practice schedule central Magnet School practices will take place after school hours but before kital baseball club teams begin using the field any scheduling conf arise all parties will receive ample notice Central magnet will provide installed own storage building at kol Park the storage building remain as Park property concession rights kol ball Club will had the right of refusal to operate concessions during games hosted at kol improvements any improvements made to the park by either party will remain as permanent fixtures of kol Park specific improvements will be made to

059the small field to ensure it meets regulation guidelines simultaneous use of fields both fields at Kel Park may be used simultaneously including hosting games at the same time if necessary season duration baseball season lasts between 10 and 11 weeks Park colors and Aesthetics no painting or changes the colors of kitel Park are permitted at any time during the term of this agreement game day responsibility Central magnet school will be responsible for field preparation before games covering all Associated cost additionally Central Magnet School be responsible for clean up after each game including cleaning bathrooms Community Access no parties dis agreement will restrict the communities access to kitel park the park will remain open and accessible to the public dispute resolution in the event of a conflict between central magnet school and the kit ball Club Club

060the Rutherford County Recreation director will mediate any disagreement to provide a resolution partnership monitoring both parties agreed to provide regular updates to the rord County Recreation director regarding the status and progress of the partnership amendments to the agreement um this partnership agreement may be amended only with the mutual consent of both parties and with the approval of Rutherford County Conservation board you'll also see the note if Central magnet school no longer requires the use of kital Park facilities before the end date of this agreement the remainder of the agreement shall be void and all scheduled use times and responsibilities will revert to the ruford County Conservation board and kol ball Club um you will see again the only organizations that we can discuss Partnerships were our organizations that are recognized uh the Rutherford County as

061Mr Marshall is the chairman of that board talked to the other day they serve somewhat as or I guess they do serve as The Gatekeepers of scheduling for that facility I believe um they've spent well over $200,000 of conservation grants and different in kind agreements on on that facility um and you'll see that there I know Mr Marshall's here for any questions if the board wanted to call him up as well so just again to summarize that is high school baseball at Las cassus both softball programs at bucanan ele and then the Middle School baseball still at kitel and the Middle School baseball program is the only one that does not have a permanent solution at this time question or comments Madam chair yes sir the issue I've had with this it's not against Central

062Magnet School having a baseball team I want these young men to have a baseball team I've never been against that the the problem I've had is just the way this has all came about the communication ball has been dropped here we did not communicate properly to these communities to allow them time to know what's going on and I feel like we doing them a disservice by not giving them time to ask their questions because just the course of this week this plan has changed several times and I say there's probably still some more tweaking that needs to happen here so I think that we need to take that in consideration nothing against supporting these guys with baseball but we need to give these communities and these parents that are going to be affected by will

063be impacted by this a chance to speak out and let their concerns be known and be addressed I've heard things like traffic issues how's that going to affect Highway 96 out there guys I'm telling you it's a that's a busy road there a lot of accidents going on out there and right in that area where you going to be turning into the school is really congested so that's one thing that we need to be looking at uh there are some other concerns about um uh parking uh student drivers coming on campus uh while they're possibly picking up their children um how we going to handle scheduling conflicts because there are a lot of things that goes on out last CES uh they do a lot of fundraisers and and things like that and we need

064to make sure that these things are being coordinated properly um restrooms you know to use a restroom out there you got to go inside the gym so how's all this going to be managed uh it's just going to be my recommendation that we postpone this for 30 days give these communities an opportunity to respond ask questions I would like for James Evans to give us that tool to allow these parents to go on the page ask questions this board come back and respond appropriately that's all I'm asking for 30 days other questions or comments Mr Tidwell yeah I just want to cover some uh different stuff uh mainly pertaining to kol uh so a lot of this was a lot of things were mentioned the other night of course there have been some changes I

065found most of these changes to be positive uh in favor of the kital community there's a couple things I wanted to go over I was at the meeting uh yesterday with the community as well and spoke with several of the community members also received phone calls emails and responded to those as well and of course there's there's some mixed feelings uh about different things and I understand that um I have to look at this as uh both sides so we're here to represent um the school district not just in each individual Community but also as a whole and I'm thinking in my mind if I flipped the script and it was Central that was uh had already had a community center community center and kol was in need of the Middle School how would I

066look at it then just to make sure that I'm looking at it from the right way uh and as I'm looking through this agreement uh which of course I've had many discussions with the parties involved as well to make sure we come to a good spot couple things I want to point out the agreement is is going to be in effect for a period of two years so we're sticking to this agreement so all the there's been a lot of different discussions about different things that I've heard from certain individuals that are not happening so what's in this agreement is what's going to happen it's for two years uh the practice schedule as was discussed by some of the leadership of the Kil Community last night the practice schedule they are typically uh the middle

067school that now we're down to the Middle School softball team only so that was another change we had Middle School baseball and softball going out there now we just have Middle School baseball going out there so there's already freed up some of that schedule concern even though though I I felt like the agreement already cleared it up in the first place but this is even better for kitel um so part of that is they they practice directly the Middle School baseball team practic directly after school they're done by 5:30 and according to leadership out at the k Community Center their practices usually start after that so there wouldn't even be a lot of conflict there another thing I want to point out about the schedule is leadership in kitro and I keep referring to leadership

068because as Dr svin mentioned that's who we're working through we're actually two spaces away so you have the community elects their board or has their their board members out there at the kital community we talk to the board or I'm sorry the board for the k Community talks to the conservation board and the conservation board has been talking to us so that's the channels of which we have to operate uh another thing that was brought up is the practice of the season the baseball season it lasts between 10 and 11 weeks so that's the time frame they start in mid-February and they end in April and according to leadership um from the kital board their game pra their practices and games typically don't even start till mid-march so even part of that season is not

069even a conflict but on the times that it would possibly be a conflict there are a couple things that I want to address as well they talked about uh who's going to clean up so this this on number 11 it says Central magnet school will be responsible for clean up after each game including cleaning the bathrooms which we heard from coach uh some of the positive comments that um have been given to Central on how they take care of the facilities they are granted to use number 12 no parties to this agreement will restrict the community's access to Kit this is not an overtake no changing of colors or uh or painting this is not a changing of the name I know there's been some recent controversy out there uh about those things so I

070understand the caution but still um we're voting on what's actually written down here so I just wanted to dispel some of those things um and also this partnership agreement this is number 15 may be amended with mutual consent of both parties and with the approval of the RC conservation board so there is still room to work together this is in my opinion been favorable including the things that the rord County School Board is offering out to the community as well for this partnership not a partnership it's a partnership um couple things I did want to bring up as well uh one of the things that was listed was uh previously was listed was the the bleachers that funding uh we have since talked to the community as well if they don't want to use the

071funding that was set aside for the bleachers then uh for to upgrade the bleachers then that funding should still stay with kol so that that was part of the initial agreement I want to make sure that's there as well uh I I don't quite understand the traffic study portion for one baseball team coming out there you know we we complained uh when our alternative school was held up by the city because we were asked to do a traffic study for 60 students and we thought that was all kind of ridiculous uh and then here we have one baseball team coming out in non high conflict times I I just don't see that that being a major concern uh so I mentioned that one last thing I want to ask Dr San to speak a little

072bit to as well because I know there's been some comments on this is the gym do you mind addressing a little bit of that so I know that that got some Community attention it was no disrespect to the kitro community whatsoever but when you're in the negotiating tactics of being able to utilize facilities um krol has a need that we need which is a field and we have a facility which is the old kital gym that I know that the kitel community has looked at um we did the exact same thing at the Rockville Community Center however giving up that kitel gym has been a hardship on our district uh we no longer um I won't put Mr Lee on the spot but Mr Lee is not thrilled that I have taken his storage away

073from kol uh we have a we have very few storage spots in our district and that is one of the last two that we had and so giving that up is a huge sacrifice and so it wasn't meant to just hold over the krol community's head but it is part of it is a partnership it is a give and take on both sides um we will be utilizing the field at times but at the same point we are giving up access to a facility that we currently use that's what to say one more quick thing on that uh and I know I think Mr P had spoken to this as well and some different members that I spoke to on the conservation board the intent for that old gym is to make it a community

074center now as far as I understand ruford County schools has spent a lot of money on the exterior of the building fixing uh the looks the exterior the the I think they added some metal did some gutters roof important they took care of all that maybe in the last 5 years or so is that is that correct Trey uh the metal in the roof was replaced about 12 to 15 years ago we also rebuilt the electrical service and changed all the lighting inside the LED lighting now but there are still a couple that's not say this building is ready to walk in and it needs cleaning they the the sewer was disconnected when the um um and Mr P can probably correct me on this but they they um the public health and safety building

075no it was done when they built the fire hall they they disconnected the sewer before we ever were given the building for usage so it's been disconnected for a long time the water service is disconnected it was disconnected when they built the public service building so that they will have to do some things to be able to utilize it like I think they were they would like to but as far as the exterior of the building it is watertight the floor is in good shape and we have redone like I said the electrical service and put LED lights in it and I believe um that well I talked to one of the conservation board members and they had also mentioned there's there maybe some drainage issues and they don't have bathrooms yet but it the

076the drainage issue has been an ongoing issue and it's the Count's aware of it and they think they have some ways to mitigate it okay but the initial intent not I can't speak for the conservation board but this was also mentioned by some of the leadership from the board of the kro community is that these that is the intention that's where they're headed and this could be these upgrades could be great for the community I see this as a positive uh I know that there have been some that have disagreed with that sentiment and then there have been others in the community that have agreed so like you mentioned you know it's always stuck between a rock and a hard place but I I'm glad to see this finalized in the way that we've been

077able to negotiate some of the the positives other discussion yes ma'am just to cover um a few things Dr suvan Las CIS Elementary gets out at 2:30 correct and I don't know how about how long is the drive from Central to lascas 15 minutes without any traffic okay which we're probably looking about an hour between their dismissal and anybody arriving for baseball practice probably correct okay um I first want to say thank you to um the community for for coming and speaking and voicing their concerns um I really want to give a shout out to the central students um I highly applaud you for standing up and speaking your minds and communicating with the board that's can be a very intimidating thing for a child and a student to do I got several um very

078touching emails including some that didn't even play but their friend played and they just wanted this so badly for their friend um I said at our meeting on Tuesday that um our magnet schools don't have all of the luxuries that some of our other schools do have and I think this is a step in the right direction to help Rectify some of that these kids work really really hard at their academics and they work really really hard at their extracurriculars as well um the one caveat that I have with this that was actually brought to my attention by a constituent was um we had brought up I brought up some safety concerns I had about the lack of the GPS and camera systems on our activity buses and we weren't able to accommodate that at

079the time with our budget and I certainly don't want to send the message to our community that the Athletics are above the safety of our students so I don't know Dr Sullivan if there's a way to look at that and revisit that y so the board voted that down 3 to four I believe but anything can be brought forward at that time it was not my recommendation from a funding aspect because when you're in June our budget is in the middle being passed by the County Commission and I was not comfortable making any type of modifications to a budget that has already been passed at that point at this point in the year we do midyear cleanups and budget amendments at all times and so that I have something that the board wants to reconsider

080I'll of course whatever the board will the board majority of the board wants that is what I'm charged to do which puts me in a really awkward spot sometimes when we everything's 34 and 43 but absolutely that's something we can do anyone else no I guess I'm sorry about that yes thank you Miss Braden uh just a followup question are you saying that you now possibly support that Amendment so as far as the cameras I think there's two sides to that the general consensus about having cameras um yes I think that is beneficial the difference between our activity buses and our regular buses that are picking students up is it's our employees who are driving activity buses and activity buses would then be approved by the board if it was someone other than an employee

081um I also know when you are looking at how players and students act react after games sometimes that's not always positive um and that's that's just the honest truth those are not always positive conversations after a tough loss um not to say that's to hide anything but there's if you're to put me on the spot yes I would support that right now thank you I one yes go ahead I think the difference and I definitely Mr Young and I've talked of and on through it I called him today told him I we have a differing opinion but I respect and appreciate his leadership and always have uh we mentioned this in October of last year the difference for me is when you're looking at a Community Partnership the Community Partnership was needed for kol because

082that is not a school system facility uh Lascassas is our facility I understand that parents um have worked on that facility we thank them for that facility and working through that and that's not to discredit that at all but to work with a community on how do we come up with an agreement when it's already our facility to use that puts us in a strange position Madam chair yes ma'am thank you yes I've received several emails thank you all for for reaching out um about this because I do feel like our um magnet schools have been slighted in many in many many ways you give us very good grades and um you know there's not a lot in return the same thing for Thurman Francis up on North End um Dr Sullivan is there any

083reason that we couldn't table this or postpone this until our September 1 September meeting it wouldn't be my recommendation because this season starts in February and if we are transitioning a a Whitworth be not witw worth B Canon to a high school field and Las guus to a high school field to get lights and everything done um honestly this probably should have been done in June or July but I was not here some of the time in June and July and that's that's just the two weeks two weeks we're already behind it's my recommendation to move forward yes ma'am sorry one more two more things um Mr Tidwell were you saying that you wanted to add the 50,000 back into the krol let me pull up uh CU I believe Dr svent was 50,000 for

084two sets of bleachers is that correct it was in that cas contral facility already has some bleachers so that lowered it when I went out there the other day um what you will see in this agreement though is on bullet number let me find the number number seven um Improvement specific improvements the second sentence will be made to the small field to ensure it meets regulation guidelines as well so that is where some of that funding will still be available to use I just want to make sure that this part of the work session the $50,000 in bleachers since they already have the bleachers but that was originally a part of the agreement makes that $50,000 makes it over to here so do we need if we were going to make a motion do we

085need to add that figure into there I would add that the original amounts will still be allocated to kol Community Center okay the other thing that I wanted to just say was everybody has sees their fair share of conflict especially when it comes to government entities and that nature I think this is a really great step for some of our County entities and Community entities to come together and be that example of how people can work together how you can compromise how you can have an agreement and abide by that agreement for the good of the community as a whole um so I just want to commend those of you that have worked on this um I want to commend the community for coming out to all of the different meetings and disc discussing pros

086and cons and all of those things I think this is a really positive step for our community to see people coming together to work for the greater good um and with that I'd like to make a motion to go ahead and approve with the original amounts thank you do I have a second second I think I need to call for a roll call vote Mr Young no Mr Tidwell yes Mrs Darby yes Mrs Maxwell yes Miss sharp Mrs Rosales yes Mrs Braton yes motion passes number 11 Transportation before we move I will go ahead I'll make the promise and assure that we will be good Community stewards with Lascassas and make sure that that agreement works I've already had a couple of conversations around eventually your high schools want to start putting Turf on fields

087um with lights and with Turf on fields uh we'll work through the logistics that's still a last casis school facility and so Mr uptain and um Central have to work on use of facility requests for those things to make sure both schools are are working through and making sure the community has use but it overall should be a win-win with a aming in facility that the community will be able to use thank you yes ma'am swim and pools I'm just going to tell yall get ready cuz that's coming next that's going to be coming next you're here just get ready lot of things going to be C I promise you number 11 transportation number 11 Transportation tab five rather for County Board of Education extended sessions bus contract for 2425 trans Transportation has submitted the

088extended service contract for Power Hour 2425 school year the contract is the same contract as last year with changes section 5.2 for the compensation dollar figure of $235 per day recommended motions to approve the extended sessions contract for power hour for the 2425 school year as presented do I have any questions or comments on Transportation yes ma'am how many students are we serving on this we know Dr Chastain can you get no during um director's update can you see how many students were serving during Power Hour y it is much lower than in the past because the funding went away last year so it's now just the students who are required by state law for third fourth fifth grade but third fourth of okay anyone else did we vote on this move to approve no

089wait a minute oh I'm so glad I've lost my place in my last meeting this is so embarrassing all right any more questions or comments on Transportation move to approve second thank you all in favor say I I I'll oppose no anyone wishing to abstain motion passes number 12 Dr Sullivan so library book review um this is uh we discussed this on Tuesday as a reminder these books were brought forth as potential violations with the obscenity law and the board has 60 days to make a final decision um that final decision the way our Board calendar Falls is September 19th I actually believe the final day would have been September 20th anyways um from when it was received so you have seven 1 2 3 seven titles below and happy to answer questions that's where

090we are okay and that again final decision will be due by September 19th giving the board time to vet the books any questions yes ma'am just a comment um on one of the emails that I received they wanted the board to get together and have a book club and have a discussion so um as much as we would like to do that we cannot meet against the sunshine law against the Sunshine Law so there'll be many of us cramming for the next I don't know I'm going to look for some books on audio and um but we cannot meet together so but we will review these books now September 19th it's good to point that out appreciate it anybody else Dr s yes can we get copy of the law yes everybody yeah we can

091do I can do that anyone else all right number 13 Insurance our insurance committee is uh continue to meet and we'll have a recommendation at the September board meeting what was your date again I didn't hear you the September board meeting uh we've already had our initial meeting this week and we're continuing to meet so we'll have a recommendation to uh Dr Sullivan and the board in September financial report not at this meeting director's update a couple quick things Dr Chastain you got our number sorry about that yes based on our funding our cap is 900 uh the second thing I wanted to go over is our English as a second language numbers so to give you an update we are as of right now 7,059 English um language students that we are serving that

092number will increase drastically we have that does not include because we are still enrolling and testing students that number does not include our kindergarteners and so we are looking at roughly 526 kindergarteners that will still be added to that number um and then it's several dozen throughout the grade all the way up into the smallest is Sixth and 12th grade so Envision an additional 800 to a th000 at least by the time when we get we should be close somewhere 7,500 to 8,000 English language students that we are serving within the next couple weeks and then yes ma'am do you have numbers enrollment numbers cuz I know we've had I've had a couple calls from the North End um telling parents that we're full and it's not that we're full there's been some U miscommunications

093on the shot records and yes um and that is I'm glad you brought up shot records um it is a seventh grade State requirement to have immunization shots uh we call that not jokingly but the seventh grade apocalypse it's when our seventh graders who do not have their shot records that is when they have to either provide a religious exemption or they have to provide updated izations and so if a student does not have that updated we'll do more reminders they have to leave on August 30th technically they shouldn't have started the school year but we give students and parents a couple weeks grace period And so that date will be August 30th as of today we are at 5209 that does not include American classical because they're not using Skyward um 2011 does that

094sound right 2011's 2011 I think that's what you said you know what acar has American classical it's right over 200 so we are right over 52,0 like 210 I do expect that number we have 248 students who have missed every day so far starting next week they will drop because they are no shows they've moved and if they moved to a state who hasn't started school yet there'd be no way for us to get their records requests so probably 51,900 is yes I'm looking at you Mr Evans we decided we had a 2011 we've been deciding which over who would get the closest sois don't are still enrolling oh they en enrolling last year till the the and we always have some that enroll after Labor Day because they don't school started right yep thank

095you always and then I have recognition for our two board members that are leaving I did this um two years ago when we had board members leave so I'm going to go over there cuz that's where they are so first we have uh Mr Coy young so in appreciation of coy young members of the Redford County Board of Education September 1st 2012 through August 31st 2024 I know this is technically their last meeting but they are not gone until um August 31st so I've joked we're going to call an emergency meeting on August 31st we're not really doing that not without me you're not good point Who provided unselfish devotion and service to the students teachers and citizens of Rutherford County presented by the Rutherford County board of education has all of our names on

096it Mr Young is a past chairman as well um if Mr which is the way a school board should be you have disagreements with different board members about different opinions but ultimately at the end of the day it matters that you you know that that person's heart is in the right place doing what's best for the district what's best for their community and what's best for students and despite any disagreements uh Mr Young has always been supportive of our school system has been one of our number one Champions if not our number one Champion um and I can't thank you enough for your service sir and uh then second um and this one is most some of you know our story some of you do not um I met Miss Bratton the first time probably

097in 2009 at that point you had to have a superintendent license when you moved in to when you were teaching I just got my admin license and so she was at Blackman Middle I was a teacher she said she was going over to Central office so I handed it to her didn't she had no idea who I was really no idea who she was other than she was the coordinator of middle level education fast forward a couple years uh I started I was the principal at Harris Middle School in Bedford County the we had 31 new teachers my first year um a lot of people left and so we had 31 new teachers Miss Breton had just retired and to train new teachers I couldn't think of a better person other than to reach out

098to somebody I didn't really have a relationship with and see if she'd be interested in being our instructional coach for new teachers um thank goodness she accepted that we worked together for several years and then I made the unfortunate decision with Title One funding to ask Miss Bratton if she were okay if I basically fired her and replaced her with a computer cart um didn't know how that decision would come back and haunt me and she'd be the chairman when I was the director of schools 10 years later um but I did replace Miss Bratton with a computer cart and then online testing failed so still apologize for that motion um but in seriousness uh thank you to miss Bratton she serves as a mentor has served in this community in this District as an

099educator administrator uh Mentor School Board member um and we have the same and appreciation of Sheila Bratton member of the Rutherford County Board of Education September 1st 2020 August 31st 2024 who provide an unselfish devotion and service to the students teachers and citizens of retherford County congratulations br for discussion I would just like to say I'm going try to say this without crying it was a really hard time when I decided to run for school board we were fixing it come into Co and I thought it'd be over in like six months it'll be it'll go on and um we've been through a lot we've been through a lot since 2000 but all the things that we were able to accomplish that we're so proud of we couldn't have done without Coy and Sheila and

100I just want to thank you so much you all have wisdom and integrity and you care about this County and we're going to try to go on without y'all but it's going to be hard thank you thank you Claire Madam chair yes [Music] ma'am I didn't want to muddy the waters with the baseball fields but with Dr sivin's blessing I would like to make a motion that we move forward with the budget for the cameras and GPS on the activity buses okay second second okay did y'all hear that did you get that all right can I ask one can I ask a question yeah I say discussion yes part of the reason why we didn't vote it the first time is because you had told us that there was not funding for it so I

101need to understand if there's funding for this we will get direct outcome funding that has not been budgeted as part of Revenue that should be over 4 million um so when we do our yearend clean our midyear cleanup we should have plenty of Revenue to be able to cover that Dr Selman do you re do you support this yes okay I've had a motion in a second is there any more discussion all in favor say I I I'll oppose no anyone wishing to abstain M Darby the motion passes you anyone else Mr Tidwell yes uh Trey I just wanted to see if we get an update on that alternative school that I mentioned earlier as to where we are at on the Church Street oh 8:14 Church Street how's it going not good nowhere we

102are waiting on the next stage of drawings from the architect they're supposed to be To Us by the middle to the latter part of September what do you think the chances of that opening up this year are SL and none zero they told us that sounds like yeah very disappointing very try um the virtual school is in Holloway right right now yes ma'am we need to take a tour we need to go and look at it so um I make a motion we go look I think you don't have to make do you it's okay talk about time for us to go you want to talk about Smyrna or do you want to wait you can you can go ahead your news to share so um I have asked the contractor at smna to give

103me a firm date we are intending to turn over the addition at smna between Halloween and Thanksgiving of this year awesome wow awesome I would like to when I get that date for the board to consider we've done some during the day things where the board meets to go just take a tour just before the students go in um or we can do a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon open to the public it's something we can think about we've done a lot of different things with additions but I think with these three there needs to be something for the community planned for the community to be able to come and the same for Oakland and Riverdale when we get there yeah I can aw absolutely I think it would be a good idea to do

104on the weekend so the community can be involved yeah yes but if the board would like to take a preliminary tour we do I do at least when we get closer to that date we can arrange that yes thank you when can we go look for at the virtual school can when can we make an arrangement for us to go I have Don email I have Don email everyone tomorrow um just be aware that there is construction behind that Annex they're in the middle of buildings um housing and it has cut our power several times the contractor has and you may or may not be on generator power when we go over there Yeahs very well could happen Mike has had conversations with them and I spoke with Middle Tennessee Electric they're trying to twist

105their arm on our behalf as well they're supposed to have repairs permanent this afternoon as we speak we hope they have if not we're going to continue on on a they cut our power on Monday afternoon and they've been on a generator ever since so contractor did Step Up provide a generator we were down for the better part of a day but we have had power since then Mr Reed is there an update on the land at all uh no new news nothing new thank you m Shar thank you um news from leverne we have a new archery team for the high school there were 40 students that showed up more than that have expressed interest but they need some sponsors they need some they need all equipment from the arrows pouches uh the bows

106uh and they're looking for someone to sponsor their show shirts now they can do the F Loom shirts but they would like some nicer shirts because they've already um put the Line in the Sand and said they're going to go to State and this was a coach that was at Blackman before and his daughter um was I think state champion uh was very successful at Blackman um he's now one of our welding teachers at leverne so if anybody has a business that wants to sponsor some shirts for the archery team for Lever high school please reach out to me and I'll put you in contact with them you got one okay I also want to thank just involves of course Mr Young and Miss Bratton but collectively um this board has worked together the last

107two years uh I'm not sure there was more that has been accomplished by a board not no disrespect to other boards but we have reduced deficits done aggressive pay raises gotten $200 million in County Commission approval uh we have it has not been fun it has not been without controversy but we have done an absolute um ton and no I'm going to talk about that yeah no one can ever accuse us of taking the easy way out and not addressing hard topics so that's something to be commended for because often times that's easy to do thank you sir Mr Young I think you wanted to make a statement sir i' just like to thank all my constituents um really passionate about rord County Schools passionate about my community uh you know this is where where

108it all starts this is how we educate kids and get them prepared for the future and it's it's very important that we continue to focus on that um we we've got some challenging times coming up guys uh out all the years I've been on this board I think these years coming up is going to be some of the tougher times we've had as far as financially because we behind on buildings we're behind in just about every area you look uh our infrastructure with this county has not kept up and if if our funding mechanism does not change there's going to be a lot more problems to solve so um I just encourage your board members to keep fighting to fight Let's uh do the best we can for R County schools and uh thank you

109for all your all support here at to at central office anyone else before I close I have a few things to say first I have a email that was sent to Miss Williams that a lady asked to be read at the meeting so I agreed to read it it's very short she just said as a retired librarian I am shocked to see this upsurge of book Banning books are Treasures that let people fulfill themselves they teach entertain delight and inspire people please do not give in to the pressure imposed by narrow minded and prejudiced people let children teens and adults travel to the magical places that books can take them hopefully Fern chains I would like to end talking as I thought Dr s was going to steal my thunder for a minute but I

110poked him and he didn't I want to talk about the accompl lishments of this board we have so many that I had to work quite a while to narrow it down but I do want to point this out the things that have been done following the will of the majority of this board we raiseed teacher administrator and classified staff salaries exponentially to ensure employee retainment and recruitment this is still mentioned to me by our employees frequently following the lead of Dr Sullivan and advice of a study by a third-party entity we are now in line with all the surrounding districts of our size we designed God approval for and we are building three needed additions at Smyrna High Riverdale High go Clair Maxwell and Oakland High thus ensuring the removal of some of our Portables

111and increased safety precautions for for our students and employees the will of the majority of our board ensure the director of our schools got a 2-year extension to his contract he is the only nationally board certified super superintendent in the state of Tennessee and we made sure that we kept this outstanding director we submitted a balanced budget and asked only for maintenance of effort for the last 2 years to the County Commission we have maintained a level 5 districts since 2020 even through covid and the subsequent years following the pandemic we have maintained our high academic standards and provided the resources needed to support teachers and students needs for Success we purchased land for a new Elementary and Middle School from the John elbat family designed and obtained funding for the new popular Hill Elementary

112School which is being built on that property now we established two more new schools to address the needs of our students at the Roy walren Annex and 814 Church Street we trained over 6,000 employees in safety training for active shooter situations we have reson the entire District to better meet our constant growth concern and we will be reexamining that rezoning in the fall to make any necessary changes we have presented several resolutions to the legislature on issues such as substitute sa safety training and vouchers and charter school funding some of our resolutions have made it into law like our mandatory safety guidelines for all substitute teachers we voted for improved working conditions with a new mou for teachers in collaborative conferencing these are just a few of the highlights of the last four years accomplished

113by this board most of them accomplished in the last two years although there are always ups and downs which accompany the difficult decisions made by a school board I'm very pleased with what has been achieved it has been an honor and a privilege to serve in this County where I was born and raised educated served as a teacher and administrator for 36 years and a member of this board culminating a 40y year 48-year career in education education is the hardest job you'll ever love I thank you all for allowing me to love it this one last time move to adjourn second thank you we are adjourned for