August 11, 2020 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale:  In attendance:  Chair Butch Campbell, Vice Chair David Settles, Wes Ballard, Roseann Barton, Amanda Moore, Becky Goff, and David LaRoche.

Staff:  Ralph Ringstaff, Gary Anderson, Sheri Arnette, Joe Marlin, Lisa Trail, Angela Fairchild, Sara Walker, Tammy Garrett, Kristina Maddux, and Trey Duke.

Assistant City Attorney Elizabeth Taylor and City Liaison Bill Shacklett, and Tammy Grissom with TSBA

 

Rationale:  The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mr. Joe Marlin, Assistant Superintendent for Federal and State Compliance and School Climate

Rationale:  A big shout out to the MCS Nutrition Department. 154,554 meals have been served plus 17,698 weekend food bags have been distributed since March 16.
This was an all-hands-on-deck success. Our team rose to the challenge.

Murfreesboro City Schools would like to thank Murfreesboro Muslim Youth for their donation of 5,200 face masks and Ms. Joyce Jackson, a retired MCS teacher for her donation of face masks.

Thank you to Rutherford County Emergency Management, Tennessee Emergency Management, State of Tennessee Department of Education and Department of Health for helping Murfreesboro City Schools obtain the many supplies we need to open our schools safely.  

MCS would like to recognize The City Schools Foundation for their $50,000 donation for the purchase of 170 Chromebooks for our students.  Our Foundation is an amazing partner and through their help over 17,000 weekend backpacks with food were purchased and distributed during our Spring and Summer break.  

The City Schools Foundation will conduct the 4th annual Back to School Dash on September 12.  However, this year's Dash will be a virtual race.  Additional details about the race will be released soon.  Our presenting sponsor this year is Children's Dentistry of Murfreesboro.  


 

Rationale:  Dr. Grissom informed the Board that there were 17 applicants for the
Director of Schools’ position (Lisa VanCleave will have those files).  
TSBA’s screening committee interviewed and narrowed them to
three finalists.  Dr. Grissom handed out notebooks with the cover letter, resume’, and references of each finalist to the Board.

The finalists are as follows:

Mr. Trey Duke
Dr. John Millay
Dr. Kimberly Osborne

After hearing the names of the finalists, Roseann Barton made the
motion to forgo the interviews at this time and go into contract
negotiations with Mr. Ralph Ringstaff. Wes Ballard seconded the
motion and added that he had looked over the criteria set forth by the
Board and could not find anything that Ralph had not covered. No vote was taken at this time.

Ms. Barton told the Board that she had gotten nothing but rave reviews
from principals and staff regarding Mr. Ringstaff. She added that we,
as a district, have enough going on with COVID-19 that it would only
make sense to keep consistency and not have another major change.
She said that she knew that the Board would need to amend a couple
of policies as well to make this possible.

Before a vote was taken on that motion, there was much discussion.
Ms. Moore agreed that Mr. Ringstaff was doing a fantastic job and that
he managed us so well in the time of crisis, but that is not the only skill
that is required of a Director. She mentioned that there are a lot of
things that she doesn’t know. She would like to know his vision in
regards to the whole child approach, the STEAM approach, and
how he sees the future of Murfreesboro City Schools and his relation-
ship with the city council. She does not feel comfortable handing over
the keys of the district to someone whom she has not had a chance to
hear from more regarding the above issues.  

Becky Goff said that she feels the same as Ms. Moore. She added
that on June 9, the Board agreed to let TSBA do this process for us.
They have given us three candidates. She was not saying that the
Board could not consider Mr. Ringstaff, but she felt that the Board
Should let the process play out and interview the top 3 candidates.
She said that when this COVID situation is over, we will have
to run a district and make sure that we have the best district that we
possibly can have.

David LaRoche echoed what Mrs. Goff said that as a board, they
chose this path.  He felt that there was also a fairness issue to Mr.
Marlin and Mr. Anderson if they decided to go with Mr. Ringstaff.

Mr. Settles added that Mr. Ringstaff was doing an excellent job.  
He just wants what is best for the district.  

Elizabeth Taylor added that one individual member of the Board could
not add a name to the list, but the Board as a whole could add a name.
She also added that she wanted to make a procedural note after the
discussion. She said that before the Board could vote to appoint Mr.
Ringstaff as Director, a board member would need to make a motion
to reconsider the June 9th vote on not allowing the interim to fulfill
the Director position.
 
Roseann Barton made the motion to reconsider the June 9th vote on the
selection process to allow the interim to serve as Director. Mr. Ballard
seconded the motion.

Mrs. Goff asked if that would that allow Gary Anderson and Joe
Marlin to reapply.  Ms. Taylor said no, because they were not elected
as interim. However, the Board could add them to the list when it is
time to vote on the candidate if the Board so chooses.

Ms. Moore added that possibly the Board would want to make a
motion to add a fourth candidate and that would allow Mr. Ringstaff to
be added to the list and go through the interview process.

Mr. Ringstaff added that he wishes to respectfully decline participating
in the interview process. He feels that his last few months should
be considered his interview along with the last ten years as Assistant Superintendent.

Mr. Ballard added that we need stability right now in our district.
The teachers and parents also need it.

David Settles added that with Mr. Ringstaff taking his name out of
the interview process, that does not not make him a candidate for the
position.

Becky Goff added that the Board chose to spend $11500 to hire TSBA
to do the search. She feels that if Mr. Ringstaff is really interested
in this position, he should be willing to sit down and tell the board
his vision and plans for the future. She added that October 1 was
supposed to be the start date. And the candidates won’t be available
after that time.  

Back to Ms. Barton’s motion to reconsider the June 9th vote to allow
the interim to be considered for the Director’s position, a roll call
vote was taken:
Wes Ballard-Yes
Roseann Barton-Yes
Becky Goff-Yes
David LaRoche-No
Amanda Moore-Yes
David Settles-Yes
Butch Campbell-Yes
6 aye’s, 1 no, the motion passes. (6-1)

Mr. Campbell asked how long Mr. Ringstaff’s contract could be.  
Elizabeth Taylor said that it could be up to four years.

Mr. Campbell wanted to inform everyone that if they feel strongly
about a situation, they need to be sure and contact more than just one
board member.
             
Ms. Taylor explained to the Board that they needed to suspend
policy 5.802-Qualifications and Duties of the Director of Schools.
She explained that on June 26, they voted on the criteria presented
by TSBA, and she didn’t believe that Mr. Ringstaff would meet that
criteria.

Ms. Barton wanted to combine the motions so the amended motion
was to reject the three candidates and go into contract negotiations
with Mr. Ringstaff and rescind the June 26 vote on the criteria and
suspend board policy 5.802. Mr. Ballard seconded the motion.
 
Mr. Settles felt the motion had too much information in it.  He wanted
the motion to be broken down.  

David Settles made the motion to rescind the vote on June 26 on the
criteria for Director and suspend board policy 5.802. Roseann
Barton seconded the motion.

David Settles asked what our policy specifies as far as the length of
an interim position. Elizabeth Taylor said that we there is no limitation
in the law or in our policy. He asked that if we reject the three
candidates and end the contract with TSBA to find a replacement,
Mr. Ringstaff would be interim until we find someone else. Ms. Taylor
said yes, but she would advise against keeping someone that is
holding two positions, Interim Director and Assistant Superintendent
for Human Resources and ESP indefinitely or for an extended period of
time.

Roseann Barton made the motion to suspend the qualifications for
Director.  Wes Ballard seconded the motion.

There was a roll call vote to suspend Board Policy 5.802.
 Wesley Ballard-Yes
 Roseann Barton-Yes
 Becky Goff-No
 David LaRoche-No
 Amanda Moore-No
 David Settles-Yes
 Butch Campbell-Yes
 
 Roseann Barton made the motion again to forgo the interview process
 and enter into contract negotiations with Mr. Ringstaff.  Wes Ballard
 seconded the motion.

There was discussion regarding others that might want to apply for the
position at this time.  Mr. Campbell said that we can add names at any
point.  He stated that we can choose to interview the three that TSBA
presented, or get others. He also stated that we will not be spending
more money because we have a contract with TSBA for $11,500 no
matter how many times we ask them to get applicants.

Mr. Settles clarified that we could interview the three candidates and if
we are not satisfied, we can scrap those and the interim would remain
interim and we could, at that time, enter into contract negotiations with
him at that time. Mr. Campbell agreed.

A roll call vote was taken on Ms. Barton’s motion.
Wesley Ballard-Yes
Roseann Barton-Yes
Becky Goff-No
David LaRoche-No
Amanda Moore-No
David Settles-No
Butch Campbell-Yes
4 No’s, 3 Aye’s, the motion does not pass.

David Settles made the motion to reject the three candidates and continue
with Mr. Ringstaff as interim for an undetermined amount of time.
Roseann Barton seconded the motion.

Elizabeth Taylor stated that the current interim contract is written for Mr.
Ringstaff to serve until the appointment of the permanent Director of
Schools.

David LaRoche said that because of the new board member coming in,
he felt that the interviews should be pushed out a month so that Mr.
Richardson could participate in that process.

Mr. Campbell said that if Mr. Settles motion passes, the three dates of
August 17, 18, and 19 that we have set for interviews will no longer be
valid. Mr. Settles agreed.

Mrs. Moore wanted to clarify that if the interim position continues through
the strange times of the virus, it would still be considered this search that
we have hired TSBA for when we come back to hire a full time Director.
Dr. Grissom said that the board would not be required to pay again.

Becky Goff suggested that we go ahead with the interview process with
the candidates and possibly move the start date of the position out. She
wanted to go ahead and keep the process going and have the Director
ready to start when the time comes. Mr. Campbell didn’t feel that would
be fair to the candidates to have to wait.

A roll call was taken on the motion from David Settles to reject the three
candidates and continue with Mr. Ringstaff as interim.
Wesley Ballard-Yes
Roseann Barton-Yes
Becky Goff-No
David LaRoche-No
Amanda Moore-No
David Settles-Yes
Butch Campbell-Yes
4 aye’s, 3 no’s, the motion passes.

Mr. Campbell thanked Dr. Grissom for her time tonight and the work of
TSBA in the search.

 

Rationale:  Ms. Taylor explained that this is a new policy presented by TSBA
as a model policy mainly in dealing with COVID-19.
Ms. Taylor also asked that the policy be approved on one reading
instead of two since school had already started and there have already
been requests made by employees.
Mr. Ringstaff added that in lines 52-62, if a teacher is quarantined but
can still teach from home, this would not apply.  The only time that
the threes times would apply to teachers is if they tested positive for
the virus and could not teach.   


 

Rationale:  Ms. Taylor explained that this policy is based on new regulations that
would be effective August 14, 2020.

 

Rationale:  Roseann Barton also wanted to add that teacher evaluations should be
modified in some way.

 

Rationale:  The meeting adjourned at 7:32 p.m.