September 15, 2022 at 6:00 PM - Bedford County Board of Education

Chairman Michael Cook called the meeting to order.

Prior to the meeting three board members were sworn in, newly elected board member Barton Williams (Seventh District), re-elected board members Dan Reed (Third District) and Brian Crews (Second District).  New board members Courtney Bogle (Fourth District) and Shanna Boyette (Eighth District) were sworn in on August 31^st.
 

Ms. Garrette congratulated the Board of Education Technology Department for being recognized by our national partner ENA.  ENA recently put out an article about Bedford County Schools in their Customer Success Stories.  Ms. Garrette talked about the second of seven Parent University sessions was happening on Thursday night as well.  The topics of the session was "How to keep your child healthy" and "School Safety."

Mr. Cook gave a shout-out to Mr. Billy Hicks.  He won an award for what he does out in the community.  He does a lot for our school system with his planetarium and teaches the kids and he does this for free.

John Davis with Davis-Stokes gave a short presentation on the Community High School addition.  Mr. Davis said the undercutting has been done and shop drawings are being approved.  They are ready to start digging footings.  Everything is moving forward.

Ron Cosentino and Bart Kline with Kline Swinney gave a presentation on the new elementary school.  They showed a powerpoint on the concept of the new school that was done being mindful of cost.  There will be a meeting in the next two weeks with FF&E and the IT department.  The square footage was reduced to save cost but did not sacrifice classroom size.  There was much discussion on traffic flow.  Brian Crews asked "About having a presence on Fairfield Pike, what is the distance from Fairfield Pike to the front door of the building"?  Mr. Kline responded "about 600 feet".  Glenn Forsee asked "What is our window of time of making a final decision as to any site change alterations."  Mr. Kline said "We have got to get it nailed down in the next couple of weeks".  Board members are to get their questions and ideas to Dr. Garrett.

Tim Harwell gave a presentation on 2021-2022 Data.  Mr. Harwell stated "As a district we are responsible for six different indicators in regards to accountability by the state of Tennessee."  Those are the 3-5 Success Rate, 6-8 Success Rate, 9-12 Success Rate, K-12 Chronically Out of School, K-12 ELPA, and Graduation Rate.  Districts earn between 0 and 4 points for each goal and indicator for which they are eligible.  Mr. Harwell explained how the district gets an overall score.  All schools received data that indicated scores for all accountability indicators.  With this data, BCS would have: A - 1 school, B - 6 schools, C - 6 schools, and D - 1 school.  At the end of his powerpoint Mr. Harwell presented an Academic Action Plan for the 2022-2023 school year.  There are 30 steps to try and implement to improve the overall instruction in academics in Bedford County.   There was discussion on chronic absenteeism and how it affects the scores.  Dr. Garrett explained that excused and unexcused absences count towards chronic absenteeism.

Dr. Garrett accepted nominations for board chair.  Brian Crews nominated Michael Cook.  There were no other nominations.  Voting was done by acclamation in favor of Michael Cook with a 9-0 vote.  Mr. Cook thanked everyone for their vote.  He then took nominations for vice-chair.  Dan Reed nominated Brian Crews.  There no other nominations.  Voting was done by acclamation in favor of Brian Crews with a 9-0 vote.

Brian Crews nominated Shanna Boyette.  There were no other nominations.  Voting was done by acclamation in favor of Shanna Boyette with a 9-0 vote.

David Brown made a motion to group the federal grants with a second by Brian Crews.  Motion passed with a 9-0 vote.  Andrea Anderson made the motion to approve the grants with a second by Glenn Forsee.  Motion passed with a 9-0 vote.

4 companies were recommended.  Motion was made by David Brown, seconded by Brian Crews to approve.  Daniel Kleindienst explained this was locking in prices.  Passed with a 9-0 vote.

Recommendation made for Advance as the best bid.  Motion made by Glenn Forsee and seconded by Barton Williams.  Passed with a 9-0 vote.

Recommendation made to use low bid from HJ Walker and Advance.  Motion made to approve by Barton Williams and Shanna Boyette.  Motion carried with a 9-0 vote.

Recommendation made to use NAPA as best bid.  Motion made to approve by Brian Crews and seconded by Dan Reed.  Motion carried with a 9-0 vote. 

Motion made to approve by Glenn Forsee and seconded by Shanna Boyette.  Motion passed with a 9-0 vote.

Changed from 70% to 60%.  Motion made to approve by Dan Reed and seconded by Brian Crews.  Motion carried by a 9-0 vote.

Wording change to match model policy.  Motion made by Glenn Forsee, second by David Brown.  Motion carried with a 9-0 vote.

Update Wording  Motion was made to approve by Brian Crews and seconded by Barton Williams.  Motion passed with a 9-0 vote.

Updating Policy  Motion made to approve by Glenn Forsee with a second by Andrea Anderson.  Motion passed with a 9-0 vote.

Update to match model policy  Motion to approve by Brian Crews and seconded by Dan Reed.  Motion carried with a 9-0 vote.

Update policy  Motion made to approve by David Brown and a second was by Barton Williams.  Motion passed by 9-0 vote.

Changed to reflect that a hard copy notebook policy manual is not required.  Motion was made to approve by Glenn Forsee and a second was by Brian Crews.  Motion carried by 9-0 vote.

Update policy  Motion was made to approve by Barton Williams and seconded by Courtney Bogle.  Motion passed with a 9-0 vote.

Update policy.  Motion to approve by Shanna Boyette, second by Brian Crews.  Motion passed with a 9-0 vote.

Update policy wording.  Motion made to approve by Glenn Forsee and a second by Dan Reed.  Motion carried with a 9-0 vote.

Robert Daniel explained the adjustments.  Motion made to approve by Glenn Forsee with a second by Andrea Anderson.  Motion passed by 9-0 vote.

Robert Daniel explained the summary of the monthly financials.  Motion to approve by Glenn Forsee and a second was by Andrea Anderson.  Motion carried with a 9-0 vote.

Robert Daniel explained the Tax Analysis report.

Terise Rhodes reports that we are well above where we were last year.  A number of homeschoolers have come back to our system.  Ms. Rhodes says they are targeting 1^st grade and 9^th grade because at this time they need to make good choices and come to school.  Ms. Rhodes reiterated what Dr. Garrett said "Chronic absenteeism encompasses all absences."    

Mr. Cook announced the Fall District meeting is on September 22^nd in Franklin County.  He is not sure of the location but will find out and let the board members know.  Trying to finalize a Strategic Planning Meeting in October. 

The next board meeting will be October 20^th at 6:00 pm at the Central Office.  Possibly a location change.
 
 

Surplus property declared for the CTE Annex.

Dr. Garrett congratulated Cascade Middle School.  They were announced as a Rewards School and are in the top 5% of schools in the state of Tennessee.  She also gave a shout-out to Community Elementary and Cascade Elementary.  They got Level 5 status in TVAAS for 2 years in a row.
New Board Member Orientation will be at the Central Office on September 27^th.
Mr. Cook stated that Dr. Garrett does a fantastic job.  He thanked her for being the face of the school system and for what she does for the kids.  In the near future the board will be looking at her contract. 
Dr. Garrett announced that the board was nominated as TSBA School Board of the Year.  Will find out in November if we won.