September 13, 2022 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale:  In attendance:  Chair Butch Campbell, Vice Chair David Settles, Wes Ballard, Karen Dodd, Barbara Long, Amanda Moore, and Jimmy Richardson

Staff:  Dr. Trey Duke, Ralph Ringstaff, Joe Marlin, Lisa Trail, Kim Williams, Chris George, Ken Rocha, TIffany Strevel, Maryam Hill, Maria Johnson, Rana Dajani

Assistant City Attorney Elizabeth Taylor and City Liaison Bill Shacklett

 

Rationale:  The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Keetyn Wyatt, a 3rd grade student and Kingston Riley, a 2nd grade student, both at Black Fox Elementary, and Anthony Guevara, a 5th grader, Sophia Guevara, a 4th grader, Victoria Guevara, a 2nd grader, and Ariana Guevara, a kindergarten student, all from Bradley Academy.

Rationale:  Ms. Taylor went over the process of electing the board chair and vice chair with the board. 

There was a call for nominations for board chair.  David Settles nominated Butch Campbell as board chair.  Jimmy Richardson seconded. 

A roll call vote was taken:
Wes Ballard-Butch Campbell
Karen Dodd-Butch Campbell
Barbara Long-Butch Campbell
Amanda Moore-Butch Campbell
Jimmy Richardson-Butch Campbell
David Settles-Butch Campbell
Butch Campbell-Butch Campbell

With 7 yes votes for Butch Campbell, he was elected Board Chair for the 2022-2023 school year.

There was a call for nominations for board vice-chair.  David Settles nominated Jimmy Richardson.  Wes Ballard seconded.

A roll call vote was taken:
Wes Ballard-Jimmy Richardson
Karen Dodd-Jimmy Richardson
Barbara Long-Jimmy Richardson
Amanda Moore-Jimmy Richardson
Jimmy Richardson-Jimmy Richardson
David Settles-Jimmy Richardson
Butch Campbell-Jimmy Richardson

With 7 yes votes for Jimmy Richardson, he was elected Board Vice-Chair for the 2022-2023 school year.


 

Rationale:  Congratulations to Shay Hutcherson, STEM teacher, for being accepted into TSIN Inaugural Innovative Leaders Institute for Instructional Coaches. This new cohort focuses on increasing capacity in those who support instruction at the school level.  
 
Congratulations to Dr. Heather Knox. Heather recently joined the Board of the Tennessee Association for the Gifted as their Treasurer.

Mitchell-Neilson Primary would like to thank the generous folks at Parks Realty for their generous donation of teacher supplies.  Each year, they ask for our teacher wish lists and then fulfil them for us.  Every teacher gets a bag full of teacher supplies. 
 
The Back to School Dash/911 Heroes Run had 573 participants and over 100 volunteers.  Thank you to everyone who helped make the run a success.
 

Rationale:  Amanda Moore asked that the portion of the policy that refers to the NSBA National Conference be deleted before the second reading since TSBA is not associated with that group anymore.

Rationale:  David Settles thanked Kim Williams for such an excellent job as Finance Director.

Rationale:  David Settles asked if this is referring to trained bus drivers and Dr. Duke explained that we will take trained or untrained bus drivers.  We will provide training for them.

Amanda Moore asked how we are getting by right now and Dr. Duke explained that there are several double routes and the Transportation Supervisor and his assistant are both driving buses.  He said that there are eleven double routes in the mornings and 13 double routes in the afternoon.

Chair Campbell asked if we have any bus drivers in training at the moment, and Dr. Duke explained that we do have bus drivers in training along with bus aides going through the process.

David Settles asked where we advertise for these openings.  Dr. Duke said that we are doing a big push tomorrow with information going out to parents as well.

Wes Ballard asked if we have any retired bus drivers that have come back to work and at this time we do not.

Karen Dodd asked if there are bus aides on every bus.  Dr. Duke said that we do not have aides on all buses, but on most.  He said that we prioritize what buses we place the aides on. Dr. Duke said that he would get the exact number of aides and get that back to the board.

Barbara Long asked about parents bringing their children to school if possible.  Dr. Duke said that he appreciated their patience. He said that we are in constant communication with parents regarding late buses and also asking for their help in bringing their children to school if possible. He said that we will keep those communication lines open.

Rationale:  David Settles thanked Dr. Duke for his input with the State Legislatorsa and thanked him for speaking on behalf of the board. Chair Campbell also thanked Dr. Duke for his communication with the Legislators and for writing this resolution along with Ms. Elizabeth Taylor. 

Wes Ballard asked how this resolution would be distributed to the Legislators.  Mrs. VanCleave will email the resolution to the Legislators and will also mail a signed hard copy to them.

Rationale:  Dr, Duke presented an overview to the board explaining the recently released test data from last year.  He introduced Dr. Chris George, Coordinator of Assessment and Data, to the board and Dr. George also commented on the test data recently received. 

David Settles said that he knew that Dr. Duke is continuously working to get scores up, but asked how long he thought it would take.  Dr. Duke explained that there was significant learning loss during COVID, but he is putting things into place to help raise scores such as hiring additional EAs to help with tutoring. He explained that we will continue to make improvements.

Karen Dodd asked if school wide disabilities includes all disabilities.  Dr. Duke said that these are any disabilities with plans in place.  This may not include dyslexia unless that student has a plan.  He said that intellectually gifted is not included.

Amanda Moore asked if we test social studies.  6th grade is the only grade that takes it and yes, they are tested.  Dr. Duke said that we have zero timeline of when grades 3-5 will be tested again.  Ms. Moore asked if social studies gets sacrificed in the daily lessons, and Dr. Duke said that it is being taught for sure.

Dr, Duke told the board that MCS has been named an Advancing School District.  We've seen a strong increase in ELA scores and strong math scores that outperform the state average along with strong ELPA scores and growth for our English Language assessment.

Dr. Duke announced that we have two reward schools! Salem Elementary and Discovery School, and two schools who missed that mark by a tenth of a point-Black Fox Elementary and Bradley Academy. He also mentioned the hard work and growth that Ms. Shields at MNE has seen.

Dr. Duke ended the update by talking about areas of continued focus. Dr. Duke thanked the teachers, instructional and central office staff for their hard work during a challenging year.

Jimmy Richardson told Dr. Duke that he couldn't thank him enough for being such a great advocate for MCS. Mr. Richardson felt that the message that Dr. Duke is sending to MCS students and staff is that we see you, and we are working hard for you and with you.

Rationale:  Dr. Duke told the board that due to the efforts of Mrs. Hunsicker and Mr. Ringstaff, insurance rates would be lower for our employees.  He thanked them for such a great job in making this happen.

Rationale:  Mr. Joe Marlin came forward to give the board an update on enrollment at this point in the year.  He told the board that the full enrollment report would be presented at the 9/27 meeting.

Rationale:  David Settles congratulated Mr. Bill Shacklett for elected as the new vice mayor of Murfreesboro.  He said that Mr. Shacklett has done an exemplary job as a servant to this city and he looks forward to many years under his leadership.

 

Rationale:  The meeting adjourned at 7:28 p.m.