March 14, 2022 at 5:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Ms. Leah Hargis led us in a moment of silence.

 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Ms. Leah Hargis led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Mrs. Robinson asked that 4.B. Spotlight and 4.A. Director's Update be switched in the order of events on the agenda.  

 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -Today we announced Mr. Bob Pritchard as the new CHS Principal.  Dr. Dyer states we had a great selection pool to choose from.  They were from Louisiana to California and Mr. Pritchard rose to the top.  The Board shares their appreciation for Mr. Pritchard.  
-Wednesday Dr. Dyer will be leading SCOPE students with TSBA in a student led Congress on policies in education in Nashville at Belmont.
-On Saturday, March 26, the Blue Raider Corps Military Ball will be held.

Dr. Elliott introduces Laura Enclade, NIET (National Institute for Excellence in Teaching) co-president, to present their findings over the last few years on our strategic plan virtually.  She shares we began in the fall of 2020 and looked at the strategic plan and dug into the implementation project.  The last year we have focused on how we create a process to create a plan of action on our strategic plan.  Mrs. Enclade shares her presentation and the first thing they focused on was Goal 1: Student Success:Provide excellence and equity in instruction and programs for student success.  She talks about the check in progress for each goal.  They will create a progress report and then create a stocktake meeting from the report, then they share updates with stakeholders.  During the progress update there are 4 color levels that are assigned to each goal.  4-(Green) Clear strong strategy, 3-(Yellow) Strategy in place, but not defined, 2-(Orange) needs additional discussion, 1-(Red) the activity is unclear or ill-defined.  They also identified key progress and challenges for these goals as well.  In ELA and Math Curriculum, Assessment, and Walkthroughs, we received a 4(green) in action steps  #1, 11, 3, and 4. In Portrait of a Graduate and Career Exploration: Action Step #7 received a 2 (orange), Step #10 received a 4 (green), Step 13 received a 3 (yellow), Step #16 received a 1 (red).  In Students with Disabilities and EL Learners: action step #9 we received a 4 (green), step #14 received a 3 (yellow), step #8 received a 3 (yellow), step #5 received a 3 (yellow), and step #6 received a 2 (orange).  In STEM and STEAM: action step #15 received a 2 (orange), step #17 received a 2 (orange), step #18 received a 4 (green), step #19 received a 3 (yellow), step #21, 22, 23,and 24 received a 4 (green). In BLADE, Virtual School, and Intervention: Action step #2 received a 3 (yellow), step #20 received a 3 (yellow), step #12 received a 1 (red), step #25 and 26 received a 4 (green).  

The Board asks about the general statements in the presentation. They would like to see more specific numbers around some of these topics.  Dr. Elliott states they do have those specific numbers, and they will get them to the Board members soon.  

The Board asks if we will look into the Virtual School again? Dr. Elliott states we did not have enough interest as of now, but we will review this annually.

The Board asks how many schools do not have enough space for STEM or STEAM?  Dr. Elliott states they do believe there is enough space and equipment for all schools to have a STEM or STEAM space.  We are in the process of creating a space at every school this semester.  

The Board asks if the school net testing is more testing on top of the Benchmark testing?  Dr. Elliott states its an assessment from 3rd grade through 12th grade.  The test is quarterly and especially at the end of the year to check the students progress and gives the teacher real time report on which standards the students have mastered or if they need to re-teach a standard.  It's a sample TN Ready test, like the pre ACT at the high school level.  

The Board asks if Dr. Dyer meets with the Teacher of the year advisory group, and they suggest we should test less, are we prepared to implant this plan?  Dr. Dyer states this school year they will not make changes so late in the year, but they would look into making changes for the next school year.

The Board asks who is conducting the walk through observations, and what do you do with the information from these walk throughs?  Dr. Elliott states the instructional facilitators and administrators.  They use the data on improving the district goals.

 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Mrs. Autumn O'Bryan introduced Coach Josh Bosken and Coach LeeAnne Shurette who was a new teacher for CHS and a new coach this year for the girls wrestling team.  Coach Bosken introduces each member of the girls wrestling team.  Coach Bosken thanks the girls for all of their hard work and congratulates them on being 3rd in the state.

Mrs. Autumn O'Bryan introduced the boys wrestling team.  She notes they represent themselves as young men as well as athletes.  Coach Joey Knox, Coach Jacob Murphy, and Coach John Weiss are here as well.  Coach Knox is proud of these young men being young men off the mat.  Coach Knox introduces each member of the boys wrestling team.  

Dr. Elliott introduces our Supervisor of the Year - Dr. Joel Barnes, Principal of the Year - Dr. Stephanie Stone, Building level Teachers of the year - Britany Strother (CCCE), Cheryl Matthews (Arnold), April Salyer (Blythe-Bower), Morgan Burke (Mayfield), Megan Yates (Ross), Rob Jenkins (Stuart) is district level teacher of the year as well, Susan Hoops-Whitlock (Yates), Rodney Broadnax (CMS), Ali Creel (CMS) is District level teacher of the year as well, Candace Parker (CMS), Susan Rodriguez (CHS) is district level teacher of the year as well, Tom Marino (CHS), and Brian DeLoach (CHS).

 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dr. Dyer states as we know we were designated as a Best For All District from TDOE.  We will use the Grant money, $250,000, from this accreditation along with the general fund account to create these bonus checks for ALL employees of Cleveland City Schools.  The Bonus check would be $200.50 for each employee after taxes, retirement, etc.  The Board is excited to present this to our wonderful staff!

 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Mr. Nate Tucker presents policy 5.606 - Political Activities and policy 5.1141 - Teacher Effect Data.  


 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Mr. Doug Moore gives an update on strategic plan update on goal #2.  The Board Goal: Provide a safe learning environment by balancing wellness, opportunity, and encouragement while supporting academic goals.  Rationale: Create safe and healthy school climates and cultures by implementing the Capturing Kids Hearts model and introducing restorative discipline practices within every school building.
We have implemented Capturing Kids Hearts (CKH) in every school in the system.  CCS has contracted with CKH to train all new hires as well as provide ongoing training for our faculty.  RTI2-B: Response to Intervention -Behavior we have implemented: ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences). All school counselors have gone through ACES training and some counselors have provided additional training opportunities for staff through after-school PD sessions. System-wide restorative discipline training has been impacted by the pandemic.  Our plans moving forward are the behavior summit which addresses issues that have been created by the pandemic, the addition of social workers to our school staff, and trailing in RTI2-B.  

The Board states they hope all students will benefit from these resources and not just the students that are in a crisis.  Mr. Moore states that there is a plan that they are working on, and he hopes to bring more information on this to the board in the future.  

Mr. Cliff Eason Shares the safe schools budget for 2021-2022.  The total budget is $118,818.  Broken down as: School Intercom Upgrade $50,000, Camera server $28,000, SRO Staffing $20,000, Security Cameras $8,000, Fencing $5,000, Apptegy Thrillshare system $3,500, Access Control $3,000, and Signage $1,318.  He presents some safety program updates: all the schools are doing well on their drills (tornado, fire, bus, etc.), emergency operations plans are being updated, averting school violence on training happened on the latest PD day.  There are SRO's leaving the police profession, so they will be needing to move some of the SRO's around to different schools.  

 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Ms. Leah Hargis gives us an update from Raider Drive.  

March 22 - Seniors will participate in Raider Outreach while the Juniors will take the ACT. It will be a normal school day for the Sophomores and Freshmen. We will host a free ACT tutoring session on March 15 & 17 for English and Math from 3-5. 

March 24 - HOSA is having their semi-annual blood drive. You must be 16 to donate. Students age 16-17 must have a permission slip signed by a parent or guardian and returned to Mrs.Huff before March 24. If the student is 18, they do not need a permission slip. Please see Mrs. Huff to sign up and get a time slot, or if you have any questions. 
March 24 - Program showcase night

Class of 2026 will visit CHS from 5-7 for tours/program information. Athletics, fine arts, CTE, Clubs, and Academic Programs will be represented. 

March 28 Graduates of Distinction Reception & Ceremony

The world language department hosted a cultural fair which was a huge success. They raised over $700 for their department which is double the amount raised in previous years. 

Sheriff Lawson came and spoke to our Criminal Justice 3 students.  Mock trials are coming up. All school employees are welcome to attend.

The police department will be on campus for a safety drive-in day on March 30 & 31. This will be for our criminal justice students. They will set up a driving course in the science wing parking lot.  

Automotive hosted their 8th Annual competition. This was a multi-school competition that took place before spring break. We had a strong performance. Culinary has been busy this month. They catered the Raider Scholar breakfast as well as the Automotive competition. They will be catering the Graduates of Distinction reception. 

Three students: Maddox Pendergrass, Stephanie Seda Haas, and Maddie Morris will take the Culinary dual credit test through Chattanooga State and all 3 passed. 

JROTC competed at Ridgeland High School in the JROTC Olympics and finished 2nd in PT. They will attend the military ball at the Cleveland County Club on March 26. This will be for the cadets and a guest. 

We now have a food pantry, Creating healthy students. If you know of a student in need please contact Lisa Wiley at CHS. This is a partnership with Chattanooga Area Foodbank. We also have snack packs given out weekly to students in need. These are given out each Thursday. This is a partnership between CHS and Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church. 

Friday will end our 3rd quarter grading period. Winter sports have wrapped up. Boys basketball completed the season with a record of 15-17. They ended their season competing in the regional tournament. Girls basketball completed the season with a record of 24-9. They ended their season competing in the regional tournament. Senior Katie Moore will be continuing her basketball career at the University of Montevallo on a full scholarship playing basketball. Boys wrestling won the team and individual state titles again this year. It is the 5th consecutive year for the team title. Individual winners were Chase Walker, Tetoe Boyd, and Ashton Davis. Arlo Laxton got 2nd. Zach Bosken, Bentley Ellison, Logan Fowler, and Lucas Szymborski all got 3rd. Jax Ernest and Cy Fowler both got 5th.  Girls wrestling finished their season strong winning 3rd in the state. Piper Fowler won 1st place and Diamond Young finished 2nd. It was a great 1st season!  Swimming - our girls’ relay team competed in the state meet. 

Spring Sports kickoff. This includes baseball, softball, boys soccer, track and tennis.  

Renaissance has wrapped up their season. They placed 2nd overall at their last competition winning best visual and overall effect while also winning the people's choice award. Kalani Estrada won an individual solo competition in Nashville. They placed in each of their competitions this year.  

The theater department is working hard on the spring musical, Freaky Friday. The musical will take place from April 21 - 24. 

Winter Guard has been promoted to Scholastic A-Class. They finished 5th out of 15 at their competition in February. Their season is still ongoing.

 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Mrs. Robinson states they will act on the Director's contract at the April Board Meeting.

 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):