December 7, 2020 at 5:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Our student representative, Skyler Stone, led us in a moment of silence and the pledge of allegiance. 

Mr. Cogdill stated Mr. Jerry Frazier is in the hospital with COVID and wants everyone to keep him in their thoughts and prayers.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Mrs. Robinson ask if anyone would like to remove anything from the Consent Agenda.  Mr. Tucker states he would like to remove 2.C. Approval of Overnight Field Trips from the Consent Agenda and move it to the Regular Agenda.  Mr. Cogdill would like to add to the regular agenda "Christmas Bonuses".  

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Mr. Cogdill states he would like to make a motion to allow Christmas bonuses as a budgeted expense to net all permanent certified and support employees $100 in recognition for all of their hard work for this first semester.
-The Board agrees that our most valuable asset are our employees, and this small token of appreciation will show our gratitude.  The Board wishes they could do more, but they are glad we are able to do something.
-Dr. Dyer explains the total bill is around $150,000 adding in our child nutrition staff.  Everyone has said "thank you" a lot to our staff, but this is a tangible way to show gratitude.  As a reminder, taxes have to come out so the gross amount is higher than $100, but they will net $100. 
-Mrs. Geren states when you pay a gross salary to an employee, the employee has to pay their part of their taxes.  Since this is a bonus we will take 25% federal income taxes out and they will still pay Medicare and Social Security taxes.  From the employer side we have to match the Medicare and Social Security taxes as well as pay the retirement amount for the employer.  For certified employees the retirement amount is 10.27% and support staff the retirement amount is 17.18%.  If you add these amounts on top of what the school system would pay to the employees, the total bill is $187,025.  The certified staff also pay in 5% into TCRS as a contribution.  
-The Board confirms after all of the taxes and contributions are taken out each employee will take home $100?  Mrs. Geren confirms yes, they have all of the calculations figured out so they will take home $100.
-The Board asks how this will be paid?  Mrs. Geren states it will be direct deposited on December 18 as a separate deposit from their payroll.
 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dr. Dyer states the overnight wrestling trip originally on the consent agenda is no longer needed.  That trip has been scaled down to a one day tournament.  
-Mrs. McKay asks about the structure of the new form.  She would like to see some items that were missing from the new form that were on the old form.  Example: Names of chaperones, cost to parents, cost to school, where they will be staying, etc.  Dr. Dyer suggests that Julie email Mrs. McKay tomorrow and they can discuss more in detail about how to get this updated with the correct information showing.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dr. Dyer wants to say thank you to our teachers, administrators, nurses, and all CCS Employees!  The middle school has been getting good feedback on our At Home Learning day.  Our Portrait of a Graduate and Student Success Task Force have had many meetings with NIET and now this week we are meeting with them and our staff from all levels on how to bring our strategic plan to life.  Cleveland Middle School is announcing their new Assistant Principal Kimberly Bradford.  Dr. Dyer knows she is going to do a great job at CMS, even though Stephanie Pirkle will be missed in retirement.  Some professional development Dr. Dyer has attended since the last meeting is transformational leadership consortium with AASA, and leading and learning at the top of the K-12 grade structure with TOSS.  Tomorrow, Tuesday, December 8 will be a rotary presentation on literacy with Dr. Elliott and Mrs. Bender.  As a reminder, the final day of classes and schools being open is Friday, December 18.  Students return on Tuesday, January 5.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -Dr. Dyer invites Dr. Elliott up to discuss these policies. 
-Policy 4.209, Alternative Credit Options.  This is a new policy.  Dr. Elliott states the main reason for this policy is for our high school students to be able to do post secondary course work while they are in high school, and some 8th graders.  We would bring any post secondary agreements to the board to approve before we offer them to the students.  So, if a student would like to take a class that we don't offer we can come to the board and get approval for this class.  Dr. Dyer states we were already doing this on a case by case basis, but this policy would allow us to have a structure to get this passed.  
-Skyler Stone states this has effected her personally because she wanted to take more German classes and could not do so.  
-The Board asks if a student fails a class first semester could they retake it online during the second semester?  Dr. Dyer states we could speak with Mrs. O'Bryan and her team to see.
-Policy 4.400, Textbooks and Instructional Materials.  The old policy is being taken out and a longer new policy will be put in.  Most of this policy are things we have been doing for a long time.  We have a textbook committee already, and we post which books we are considering for the curriculum so the parents can give us feedback.  Something new in this policy is a parent agreement that is to be signed at the beginning of the school year when we assign textbooks.  It says the parents understand the book is property of the school system and it is to be returned to the school in good condition.
-The Board asks if the laptops are considered part of this policy as instructional curriculum?  Dr. Dyer and Dr. Elliott state the laptops do not fall under this policy, it is more resources that are paper driven, manipulatives for math, etc. 
-The Board asks if the paper that the parents sign says they have to pay for the book if not returned?  Yes, they will have to pay for any books not returned/replaced.
-Policy 4.603, Promotion and Retention.  The school should identify any students that need retention by February 1 of the school year.  Once again, this policy states items we are already doing.  K-3 reading intervention, retention strategies, etc.  
-The Board asks if we are seeing a lot of retention?  Dr. Dyer states its not often, but there are certain situations where it is needed.
-Policy 6.3041, Title IX and Sexual Harassment.  We have looked at this policy already, but after speaking with Mr. Chuck Cagle and the wording needs to be updated on page 5.  We added "or the Director of Schools Designee" because this is time consuming, so we need the option to bring in someone else to be on the case.
-Policy 4.700, Testing Programs.  This policy deals with EOC testing, which is happening right now.  Our staff went through this policy and they are recommending on line 14 "that TN Ready and EOC scores should not be counted on their final grade for the 2020-2021 school year". With isolation, quarantine, etc. it seems like the fair thing to do this term.  Dr. Dyer recommends we revisit this policy next school year.
-The Board asks what if taking the final test will improve their final grade?  Mr. Kahrs states there is a problem with getting the grades back in time.  Mrs. O'Bryan has been working on an alternative plan for students to do work to help their grade out and not to penalize them.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes): 

Dr. Dyer is speaking about the communication section of the Strategic Plan. A Style Guide is now used by schools and the AOB for our general communications. We have updated and changed our communication technology to Thrillshare.  This allows us to text/call/email in 24 different languages for our families.Our new website through Apptegy is now viewable in 18 different languages.  We have a new Cleveland City Schools App in the Apple and Android App Stores. Each school has a list of interpreters to call on for translation services and we have purchased an app called Talking Points so teachers and administrators may contact parents in any language through text.
-The Board asks how we are promoting these different communication styles?  Dr. Dyer states we had a communication audit and it is helping us look at our modes of communication.  We know we need to focus more on the app.  Mr. Raper states Thrillshare is more of a district level of communication, and Talking Points is more of a personal teacher to student messaging system.
-The Board asks when they did the audit what did it say was the best form of communication to our families?   Dr. Dyer believes social media was the main communication avenue.  Also, when they did the audit we did not have a facebook page for the district.  

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -Dr. Elliott states the Task Force continues to meet on a regular basis.  Last week CMS went to at home learning and he spoke with the CMS teachers and its encouraging to hear all the great ways our teachers are adapting and succeeding.  The CDC has updated their guidelines and the amount of days you have to quarantine is now 10 days instead of 14 days.  One of the aspects of the elementary team is to use the Cares Act Fund for intervention in the summer.  We met with some of the summer intervention program teachers and we have begun deciding on what curriculum we would like to use and started planning this program.  The high school has been using their after school program for credit recovery programs.  The Middle School is also planning a summer intervention program.  Virtual Choice numbers: CHS currently we have 77 who are virtual, but it could cap out at 100 students.  CMS currently we have 190 returning to traditional and around 65 staying virtual.  At the elementary level 184 returning to traditional, and 232 will remain in virtual.  
-We had some feedback from the virtual learning day on November 2 from our staff and families.  He appreciates the honesty on this survey from everyone.  This will help us plan for future days.
-Dr. Elliott states the administration and reopening task force have been reviewing the COVID numbers daily.  This morning we had 36 positive cases and then this afternoon we added 11 more COVID positive cases.  Since these numbers are increasing we will have all of Cleveland City Schools be at home learning next week, December 14-18.  This will allow all students time to get paper packets if needed this week.  The high school students do have laptops already. If a student would like to pick up breakfast/lunch options we will have bus stops with meal pickup and pickup at BB, Mayfield, CCCE, CHS, and Yates on Monday and Wednesday of next week.  There will not be Y care at the schools, but the parents should contact the YMCA for details on their plan to accommodate working families. Dr. Dyer states don't forget the program allows food pickup from children 0-18 years old.
-The Board asks of the feedback given on at home learning was there any information on internet access? Dr. Raper states they have sent out surveys asking if students had internet access, but those surveys are unreliable because the students we are trying to reach may not be able to answer the survey because they don't have internet.   Dr. Raper states the district has purchased hot spots for students to check out and use at home.  The district now has 50-60 hot spots.  Dr. Dyer states many systems across the state are having the same problems with connectivity.  
-The Board asks if we have parking lot WiFi access at the schools? Dr. Raper states CMS and BB  currently have WiFi in their parking lots now.  Currently they are working on getting WIFI in all of our parking lots this week.  
-The Board asks if they do not have internet access do they get paper packets?  Dr. Elliott states yes, the teachers have a list of which students need packets.
-The Board asks if anyone in the community wants to find out more information about parking lot WiFi, etc. where can they go to get this information?  Mrs. Smith and Dr. Raper state it is on the Cleveland City Schools website under Back To School.  Dr. Dyer said we can create a one page flyer to send out/hand out to students with WiFi information on it.
-The Board asks if the classes will be recorded?  Dr. Raper states they are not recorded because of FERPA issues. 
-The Board asks if we have tried to partner with other businesses in town to allow our laptops to be able to use their WiFi?  Dr. Dyer states at the beginning of the Blade project they tried to go to businesses and ask them to put our BLADE sticker on their door so families knew they could connect there.  We found out most businesses did not want to do that because their company policy won't allow it.
-The Board asks why we are not going to At Home Learning today instead of next week?  Dr. Elliott states according to our numbers we are trending upwards and feel the trend next week will be much higher.  We wanted to give our teachers, students and families enough time to be ready for At Home Learning.  
-The Board asks if the vaccine comes out and the number of COVID cases goes down drastically would our virtual students have the options to come back to traditional?  Dr. Elliott states our plan is to keep them virtual through the end of this semester.  But, we do want to give them the option to participate in the summer intervention programs in person.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -The 2021-2022 Calendar Updates- Since we had a positive feedback from our staff about the reconnection week we chose to reschedule this calendar.  There will be a reconnection week with 3 days of reconnection, August 3-5,  with 1/3 of the students present on these days.
-The 2022-2023 Calendar.  We have sent our Draft A and Draft B calendars to get feedback from our staff, teachers, and community on which calendar they prefer.  Most of our survey takers chose Draft B.  He is recommending we go with the Draft B Calendar.  
-The Board asks if our spring/fall break are the same as Bradley County?  Dr. Elliott states he has reached out to Bradley and Polk Counties but he doesn't know where they are in their calendar options.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -Our student representative, Skyler Stone, states she has 2 months worth of information to cover so shes sorry if its lengthy.  She helped open and establish the stimulation lab at CHS.  It has 3-D printers, VR headsets, etc.  We introduced it to the teachers first and then the students will be using it soon hopefully.
-The art classes finished a butterfly mural, and the students find it to be an uplifting positivity mural.
-The swim team won over Boyd, and the Cross Country teams went to the state championships this year.  
-Our Theater did Juliet Ghosts and 12 Angry Jurors.  
-They had 2 induction ceremonies recently.  National Honor Society, inducting 26 new members and Science National Honor Society, inducting 13 new members.
-She would like to recognize the people who won the winners of the Daughters of the American Revolution Youth Citizenship Award.  Leah Hargis, Angela Davis, and Noah Harrel.
-Capstones class is a new class this year.  She would like to recognize our yearbook committee and Abigail Madena for working so closely with the special education department.
-She had a good fancy lunch today in the cafeteria, Lo Mein with teriyaki beef.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -Mr. Charlie Cogdill opens up discussion about the site committee meeting last week.  The committee recommends we approve canopies at CCCE, CHS, Stuart, and Mayfield.  Does anyone have any questions about the canopies?  No questions.  
-The second approval was the outdoor basketball court at BB.  The committee recommends we approve the outdoor Basketball court at BB.
-Mr. Taylor states the cost estimates were sent to the Board today to look at the Sewer at CHS, and TDC evaluation.  Motion to move forward with the services with a total of $35,000.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Mrs. Robinson adjourned the meeting by general consent.