May 3, 2021 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 then led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -National Teacher Appreciation Week May 3-7: THANK YOU!
-Cleveland High School and Cleveland Middle School - Capturing Kids Hearts National Showcase Schools
-Autumn O'Bryan: Named TN Association of Secondary School Principals East TN Principal of the Year
-Tasha Cox: Interim School Nutrition Supervisor (Gena Reed resigned)
-Job Postings: Check our Human Resources site often for posted job opportunities
-May 21 - Final day of the 2020-2021 School Year.  This is a half day.
-May 24 - Summer Camps Begin

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Mr. Kiser recognizes the Tenure eligible teachers.  Tenure Eligible Teachers May 2021, Level 4 or 5 score in the last 2 years of a 5-year probationary period.  Lesley Avery, Cari Bosserdet, Jennifer Colbaugh, Chanin Giannasio, Whitney Harden, Erin Holland, Katie Jones, Cori Lawson, Hannah Medema, Derek Morris, Donna Ratcliff, Anna Spears, Leia Talley, and Megan VanBenschoten.  

Dr. Dyer recommends they approve tenure for all the eligible teachers mentioned.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -Archery Winner- Sophomore Claire Krepps won the archery state championship and the nation.  She got interested in archery in 7th grade by learning from her grandfather.  Her next step is working on 3-D outdoor.  She has received some college scholarships already.  Claries parents were in attendance as well.

-Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year -  Freshman Victoria Shafer. Her mentor Jonathon Pierce is in attendance as well.  She had to write a cover letter and 3 essays, and obtain a teacher recommendation.  During the competition she had to do interviews.  

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Mr. Michael Kahrs spoke about an assessment update.  The state has opted into the two testing windows.  They have to make up some tests from the spring of 2020 to the spring of 2021.  TCAP: Grade 2 (Opted in ) ELA and Math, Grades 3-5: ELA, Math, and Science, Grades 6-8: ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies.  EOC (End of Course): Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2, English 1 & 2, Biology 1, and US History.  Testing Windows: TCAP: April 21st - May 7th, EOC: May 5th - May 14th.  Schedules can be found at www.clevelanschools.org/sis. 
The tests are all paper this year with over 500 boxes arrived on a semi-truck.  We are administering over 15,000 tests. Every school is made up of a 4 person team: 1-Building Testing Coordinator, 2-Security and Operations, 3-Scheduling and Accommodations/Accessibility, and 4-Materials and Readiness.  The results will come back via a new online parent portal by July 30th.  Paper copies go out when students return to school in the fall.

-The Board asks who is grading these tests?  Mr. Kahrs states Pearson will be grading them.
-The Board asks how many tests is the average student taking?  Grade 2 is ELA and math, Grades 3-5 is a writing ELA and regular ELA, and Math and Science, and at the Middle School is writing, ELA and Math, Science and Social Studies.  High School it depends on what they are enrolled in.  Kindergarten and First are not testing.  

There are other assessments taking place: MSAA (ELA and Math) and TCAP-Alt (Science and Social Studies), Schoolnet Mock Interims (practice TCAP/EOC), preACT and ACT, WIDA (ESL), AP (Advanced Placement), and State Dual Credit.  

-The Board asks if the Virtual School students test?  Mr. Kahrs states they all have to test at the school in person.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dr. Elliott talks about the COVID-19 Task Force Update. 
Summer Programs:  
Elementary Raider Camp has 405 students enrolled.  ELA/Math Intervention Classes: 40 certified teachers.  STEAM/Physical Activity Teachers: 6 certified teachers.  Special Education Teachers: 6 certified teachers.  ESL Teachers: 3 certified teachers.  Nurses: 3 certified nurses.  Program Coordinators: 3 certified administrators.  Support Staff: 45 non-certified staff.
Middle School: Four C's Summer Academic Camp.  Citizenship, Community, College, Career) 119 students enrolled.  ELA/Math Intervention Classes: 18 certified teachers.  STEAM teachers: 3 certified teachers.  Special Education Teachers: 4 certified teachers.  ESL Teachers: 2 certified teachers.  Nurses: 1 certified nurse.  Program coordinators: 1 certified administrator.  Support Staff: 8 non-certified staff.
High School: 150 Students.  Credit recovery for the month of June and maybe July.  We are working on staffing this now.

We have about 66 certified teachers, plus nurses, and paraprofessionals to make this team work this summer.  The summer hours are 8-2 for the secondary level, and 8:35 - 3:15 for the elementary students. 

-At the end of the 2020-2021 school year, May 21, 2021, Cleveland City Schools will end the daily staff and student temperature checks.  CCS encourages families to continue to monitor high temperatures and fevers.  If a student or staff member has a temperature of 100.4 or higher, he/she needs to remain at home.
-With ongoing updates from federal, state, and local health officials elated to appropriate wearing of masks, CCS plans to transition from requiring wearing masks to encouragement of wearing masks.

• Starting immediately, for outdoor, school-sponsored events, the wearing of masks will be encouraged but no longer required. TSSAA already made this change and CCS followed this procedure for outdoor events.
• Beginning on May 24, 2021, CCS will no longer mandate the wearing of masks inside our schools and other facilities.  These new indoor mask guidelines will begin with our summer learning camps and other summer programs.
• Masks must be worn on public modes of transportation, including school buses.  Cleveland City Schools staff and students must follow the federal guidelines regarding the wearing of masks on school buses.

-Contact Tracing-CCS will discontinue the weekly data repots of identified COVID-19 cases and quarantined students on May 21, 2021.  After May 21, 202 a student/staff member who is diagnosed with COVID-19, school staff will communicate with the local health department, fellow classroom students and staff about the confirmed case.  The details of contact tracing will be handled by the local health department beginning on Monday, May 24, 2021.
-Disinfecting-CCS will continue to provide extensive disinfecting services in its buildings and on its buses.

• The contracted cleaning service will disinfect classes daily.
• The Operations team will conduct a thorough disinfecting of each bus daily, too.

-School Start Times: CHS- 7:45-2:45 School doors open at 7:15, buses drop off students between 7:15-7:30.  CMS-7:45-2:45, school doors open at 7:15, buses drop off students between 7:15-7:30.  Elementary Schools- 8:15-3:15 school doors open at 7:45, buses drop off students around 8:05.

-The board asks if we have looked into changing our afternoon hours?  Dr. Dyer states the system he was once at went from 9-4.  There are studies that show students are on campus early even if they don't start the school day until 9:00 am because they choose to participate in sports practice/band/choir practices.  

-Students who have applied to enroll in the Virtual School Of Cleveland:  Elementary-12, Middle-14, High - 24.  The extended deadline to apply is the end of the day May 10, 2021.  We are required to apply for a new school number to have the Virtual School of Cleveland as a separate school.  This school will be K-12 with no more than 250 students.  When we do apply we have to apply by June 1, Instructional resources will match adopted curriculum used in traditional setting, technology devices will be deployed to CCS virtual students, offer 58 courses, 6.5 hours per day of instruction with teacher contact each day, attendance will be checked daily and the school will follow state truancy policies, application to enroll will continue until May 10, 2021.  Licensed, certified teachers and evaluations will take place like any other school, graduation will be held at a separate time than CHS and students will be a graduate of VSC instead of CHS.

Dr. Dyer recommends approving the updated COVID guidelines that were put out here tonight including the start times and VSC license approval.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -Skyler Stone says she wants to brag on her senior class.  Many of her classmates have been committing to their post secondary plans.
The Graduates of Distinction ceremony was last week when 30 students honored 30 teachers.  There have been a lot of banquets going on at the end of the year: CTE banquet, sports banquets, etc.  Prom was a fun time overall for the students.  We have 10 TVAC students graduating with their associates degree as well as their high school diploma.  There are a lot of testing going on, specifically the AP testing.  At the science Olympiad state tournament, Forensics got 4th in the state out of 26 schools who qualified.  Rishi Soni was invited to an international conference as well as a national conference for his science project. We had 4 records broken at a recent track meet, we had 3 records broken at a recent swim meet.  SGA president and vice president elections are coming up.
Skyler wants to thank the board for allowing her to be on the board this school year.  Dr. Dyer presents Skyler with a certificate, check and medal in appreciation.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -Mr. Cogdill announces Joey Knox is here to present a change they would like to make to the Jones Center.
-Joey Knox is here to discuss permission to change the entrance to the Jones Center.  The Jones Center is a top-notch wrestling program.  The current building is 21 years old and needs improvements yearly.  We are proud of the accomplishments our wrestlers have had.  We would like to make improvements to our trophy room.  These renderings you are looking at are pictures of our past wrestlers and stats from years past.  They would like to put a TV on the wall, so they can show past wrestling matches. They will need $8,000 to finish this project, and they have $6,000 raised so far with some labor donated.  The structure of the building will not change.  They will start this work as soon as it is approved.  
Mr. Cogdill made the motion to approve changes to the Jones Center trophy room.

Dr. Dyer recommends that Brian's team move forward in their study and bring back their findings and draft a plan.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Mrs. Robinson says they have decided to move the June meeting to June 3rd at noon at the AOB. The board then discusses their plans for graduation and how the night will go, as well as all the senior events coming up.