June 1, 2020 at 3:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dawn Robinson opened the meeting, and Hayes Martin started a moment of silence and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dawn Robinson read the above statement.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  The secretary, Julie Smith, took roll.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dawn states she is adding the Candy's Creek Cherokee Elementary Pavilion to the Consent Agenda.  The PTO has asked to build this, pay for this, and design this.  She lets the board know they can take this off the consent agenda if they would like since it is being added late.

 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  The board questions if we can send chromebooks to the 4th and 5th grade level after the middle and high school leases are up?  Dr. Raper reminded them the current chromebooks were on a lease and they will be exchanged for replacements, if we did choose to keep them it would cost extra funds.  Dr. Dyer stated they hope the cares act money will provide funding to purchase laptops for the elementary level students, grades 3-5.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dr. Dyer greeted everyone and welcomed them to our hybrid meeting.

-First update is about Graduation at CHS.  Graduation looks different everywhere in the country this year, from hybrid-virtual-to separate graduations.  We have decided, after speaking with the health department, student body, teachers, administrators, and stake holders in general, to have graduation June 12, 13 or 14.  Depending on weather we will have graduation on one of those days at Benny Monroe Stadium.  On Friday, June 12 or Saturday, June 13 it will be 9:00 am.  On Sunday, June 14 it will be at 7:00 pm.  We will be adhering to all social distancing principals.  We have ordered face masks for all of our students, and encourage anyone in the community to wear a mask as well.  All the details, practice time, ticket sales, etc. will be released from the high school.  The original May 15 graduation date did not work well with everything that was going on.
-The board questioned what their dress code for the graduation ceremony should be?  Dr. Dyer said they can decide as a group what they choose to wear, but Dr. Dyer states he will be in his regalia.  After discussion, they will be in dress clothes and not the regalia. 
-The board questions if graduation is held on Friday, June 12 at 9:00 will parents that work be able to attend?  Dr. Dyer states they have had discussions about this, but the turf gets very hot and they are worried about the temperature of the field if it is held in the afternoon.
-The board questions if and when we will know which day graduation will be held?  Dr. Dyer states they will be watching the forecast and as soon as they feel comfortable with the forecast they will make the call.  
-End of 2019-2020 school year reflection.  He wants to congratulate the whole school team on their response to COVID-19.  He is very proud of their hard work.  He knows of other school systems that were modeling their school structure from our model.  Our system served 171,323 meals during the last 10 weeks of school.
-Our first TVEC cohorts graduated this year.  They got their high school diploma from CHS,  and associate's degree from CSCC,  at the same time and although we didn't get to celebrate them like we would have liked we are very proud of them.
-High school was named as a TN STEM School, and a Capturing Kids Heart National Showcase School.
-We had the largest school system population at 5,613, which is 172 more than the end of 2018-2019.  Our community likes what they see in Cleveland City Schools and this shows that.
-Dr. Dyer is proud to be a part of Cleveland City Schools.  The school board allows the teachers/administrators to think outside of the box and it showed during the last semester.  The model in how we deliver education might change going forward since we have went through COVID.  
-The board questions how many students don't have WiFi?  Dr. Raper estimates 15-20% do not have WiFi, but Dr. Dyer estimates a good percentage of those families have LTE service. Dr. Raper states the system also opened up wifi in some school parking lots where students can bring their school issued computer and access wifi. 
-The board asks if there is a way to know how many students utilized the WiFi in the parking lot?  No, there is no way to obtain that data.
-The board knows there are buses being used with WiFi capabilities, and they want to know if anyone that drives into the certain parking lots can access WiFi?  Dr. Raper states they did have wifi on one of the  buses that delivered food, also CMS and Blythe-Bower are the two hotspots in the district as of now and the WiFi is only available to Cleveland City Schools issued devices.  The system is looking to use the Cares Act money to add more WiFi onto buses so students can do homework while on/around the bus.
-Planning for the next school year: Everything I plan on telling you is subject to change, the southeast core has a task force looking to see what scenarios we can use next fall to open school again.  There are fazed plans to come back such as a normal start,  hybrid models, and virtual school.  TDOE is working on tool kits.  One tool kit we are waiting on is a "rule book" on how to open school.  TDOE is waiting on waivers to be passed by the State Board of Education.  
-The Board questions if our funding will be cut?  Dr. Dyer states we will watch the general assembly to see what they vote on within the next 2 weeks. 
-Some items the system is considering for the start of school: Academic Plan? Intervention and Remediation? How do we do hallway transitions?  Social distance in classrooms?  PPE-how do you have enough?  Mental and Emotional Health-how are we meeting the social and emotional needs of students and teachers?  Technology needs?  Food- where do they eat?  Extra-Curricular activities/Events? Field Trips-virtual? Do we change the calendar-start earlier/end sooner? Transportation -how do you social distance on a bus?
-Dr. Dyer believes we will come together in a specially called meeting in early July to decide what our system will do.  We will follow the states guidelines and then create our schedule. We want to make sure whatever decision we make is good for our staff and students.
-The board asks Dr. Dyer his thought on athletics? Dr. Dyer said he doesn't know but all of our coaches/AD's are keeping up to date on all the protocols.
-Dawn stated there is a board meeting on the calendar for June 15, but they are canceling that meeting and the board will wait until Dr. Dyer has enough information to call the next meeting.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dr. Dyer introduces the Strategic Plan for the next 5 years Student Success, Safe and Healthy Schools, Communications, Engaged Workforce, and the Portrait of a Graduate with the 5 Cs. We started back in December, but mainly in January on the strategic plan.  We had employees, students, administrators, etc. to fill these committees.  This is our road map for the next 5 years, and the three words we are focusing on are educate, innovate, elevate.  This paperwork in front of you is the outward appearance of the plan for the community and stakeholders.  We have a behind the scenes plan with more in depth type of explanation.  The hashtag of Cleveland City Schools continues with #RISECleveland, and we will continue to be responsive, innovative, student centered, and engaged with our community.
Dr. Elliott presented student success.  It started with 3 teams: 1-Core Academic Success, 2-Steam Education, and 3-Pathway, but around spring break we brought all three groups together to all encompass student success.  The goal of this group is to provide excellence and equity in instruction and programs for student success.  Looking at the action steps: We are focusing on the curriculum and want to make sure CCS includes the A in STEAM. We want our students to be ready for college, career, or life.   Some of the ways we want to obtain this is with the Capstone program to provide professional studies in the professional field, and continue the blade project.  The second half of the core curriculum will be focused on math, while the first part will be ELA.  The Board asks which schools within our system received the STEM school assignment?  Dr. Elliott stated it was Cleveland High School, and the system was surprised by being awarded a $10,000 grant to go along with the distinguishment.  The Board wants to make sure we do put focus on the "A" in STEAM.

Gena Reed and Doug Moore presented Safe and Healthy Schools.  They created three subcommittees for this group.  For nutrition they wanted to initiate surveys for the students, faculty, and community satisfaction.  They will implement responses to the surveys.  Extra curricular activities will look different now and we will come back to planning this area once we have more guidance from the state level on COVID-19.  Safety and Discipline is the next area.  The first program we have implemented is Capturing Kids Hearts, and they would like to bring this down to the elementary school level.  Discipline needs to be looked at in a different light.   The old way of suspending students is what we need to get away from.  There are tier disciplinary avenues to reach suspension out of school.  The board ask if you could use virtual school with the disciplinary students?  Yes, that is part of our discussion.  The middle and high school have already been using some of this tier discipline approach, but this plan will give guidelines.  Krista questioned if we should put a plan in place to have all schools walkable in our commitment to the parent responsibility zones?  Dr. Dyer states it could go into the capital plan and the strategic plan.  Hal Taylor updates he has been in communication with the city.  We have covered bus stops in conjunction with Sethra, the city has put stop signs by the school and Blythe-Bower had a new addition to their sidewalk.  We will add this information to the strategic plan for the final version. The board questions if the elementary schools will be able to choose their weekly/monthly menus?  Yes, that is something Gena and her staff are working on already.

Cody Raper presented communications.  The goal is for Cleveland City Schools to communicate with all stakeholders and the media through multiple effective and efficient mediums.  We have three action steps: 1 - Develop a holistic communication strategy, 2- Streamline internal and external communications, and 3- Ensure Cleveland City Schools is effectively communicating to every family in their native language. .  Are we reaching all of our stakeholders effectively.  24% of families have a non English background, we have to target them in their native language.  We will use new software, talking points, to communicate with families starting next year.  We anticipate hiring a full time interpreter, and increasing the budget for school interpreters.   Along with this communication plan we will present the style guide and how to use the style guide.  We will have a new logo presented today.  We have the Cleveland Power C and around it is the 4 parts of the shield that represent the 4 major components of the Cleveland City Schools brand (Student Success, Safe and Healthy Schools, Communications and Engaged Workforce) and under the shield is our tag line "Educate.Innovate.Elevate"  The board questions about where the red color comes in play since Cleveland has predominantly been blue and white?  Dawn explains blue and white are our dominate colors with a touch of red.
Kelly Kiser presented engaged workforce.  The goal is to provide a diverse, high quality educational staff throughout our school district.  It's important to expose our students to world class educators and educators who represent their cultural background.  Our teacher population is 90% white and our student population is 54% white.  We want to expose our students to staff diversity.  Mr. Kiser would like to change the way Cleveland City Schools recruits new employees, and possibly implement a plan to encourage our current paraprofessionals or students to become teachers.  The board would like to make sure we focus on adding an intro to education course at CHS soon in the 5 year plan.  
Dr. Elliott is presented our Portrait of a Graduate with the 5 Cs.  Preparing students to be college, career, and life ready with the 5 Cs: Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Character.  It's not only important for our students to embody these characteristics but also our teachers/administrators.  
The board ask if this plan will be given out to the public?  Dr. Dyer said it will be on our website, translated to Spanish, and we will get these packets out to the chamber, etc.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  There is not a formal presentation, but Cindy Geren and Gena Reed are here in person and Chas from Sodexo is online for any questions on this contract.  This contract has been worked on since 2018 with discussions between our attorneys and Sodexo.  This is a 1 year contract, renewable in 1 year increments for the next 4 years.  The board had a question about reimbursable foods, if a group wants to bring in pizza for a gathering would they be able to do that?  Chas responded they are welcome to bring in their own food, but Sodexo would love the opportunity to collaborate on gatherings as well.  Dr. Dyer is recommending that the board accepts the contract as is for the middle and high schools.  The board noticed in the contract that there will be an investment of some money for equipment, and if that is not amortized then we will owe the balance.  They want to know if the system is ok with this?  Dr. Dyer, and Cindy both agree they have spoke with Chuck Cagle and they are in agreement that this is a great course of action to replace the old equipment.  Hayes questions how the food service employees feel about it?  Gena states there are various concerns from her employees.  She states it is written in the contract the current staff will remain Cleveland City School staff.  Dr. Dyer further explains that current employees will remain Cleveland City Schools staff, but they do have the option to choose to become Sodexo employees.  Anyone new who is hired will be a Sodexo employee.  Where does Gena fall into this?  Sodexo is scheduled to bring in a manager over both schools.  Gena would still be the Cleveland City Schools representative for all the schools, but these managers would take over for the middle and high school day to day activities.  The board questions what their COVID-19 response would be and what does their COVID-19 pre packaged meals look like?  Chas states they are waiting on information to come down from the federal and state levels to determine how they move forward on packaging, but they would work hand in hand with the district to deliver food to the students during a pandemic.  The board questions if all the schools are under the Community Eligibility Provision and how does that work with the contract?  Gena states every school is under this provision and we will be able to keep it as long as we keep the same price point.  The board questions how will the students at The Denning Center  be served?  This plan will need to be determined but there is an option on the app to be able to preorder and someone could pick it up.  Dr. Dyer states the end goal is to increase our participation rates in the food program.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes): 
Before this section started Charlie Cogdill had to leave the meeting.

Hayes states obviously it's been an odd month, but the teachers have done a great job keeping us engaged, especially AP testing.  Students are continuing to impress even when they aren't in school with scholarships, and teams have been volunteering to cleanup after the tornados.  The senior cruise was a great success and the students were happy to see their peers and teachers.  He thanks everyone for the opportunity to serve the board.  The board members thank Hayes for his hard work and appreciates him bring present for all the meetings.
Dr. Dyer thanks Hayes for serving the board and would like to give Hayes a certificate, a medal, and a check.  Dr. Dyer would like to introduce the new 2020-2021 student liaison Skyler Stone.  She will start in August 2020.  Dawn Robinson will speak with Skyler to discuss her role during the summer and welcomes her to the board.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Steve Morgan introduced Hal Taylor.  Hal announces the chiller and cooling tower are complete and operational.  Also, we have trucks hauling the dirt hill from Candy's Creek Cherokee Elementary.  We have a contractor who says he wants all of the dirt, but if they decide they don't want it we have a backup contractor who will take the remaining dirt.  The board questions if Hal thinks it will be gone before school starts back?  Hal states they intend to have it complete.  The board questions what the new landscape will look like once the dirt hill is removed?  They are in discussion with Brian to fulfill the end of the contract, and the City to make it more appealing.

The board questions if there has been any more information on the timeline for the new TDOT road?  No, we don't have any new information.

Steve would like to keep a couple of Hal's employees and some former employees whom have passed away in your thoughts.  Gene Bishop and Roger Parks have passed.  Daniel Rutledge had a heart attack and had heart surgery, and is already back home doing well.  He is expected to make a good recovery.  A newer employee had a motorcycle accident with his wife.  He is anticipated to come back after his injuries have healed.  Hal states we have an electrician coming in July, but we will be working half staffed through the summer. 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dawn adds that Roger and Gene were both assets to this school system.  Dawn adjourned the meeting by general consent.