July 27, 2015 at 6:30 PM - GMSD Board Business Meeting

Discussion:  Chairman Lisa Parker called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm

Discussion:  Chairman Lisa Parker led the moment of silence.

Discussion:  Superintendent Jason Manuel led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Discussion:  Three amendments were made to the Agenda per Board members' recommendations as follows, 1. Board member Mark Dely requested to add the FY 2014-2015 Budget amendments 73,74 and 75 as a separate agenda item number 13. 2. Board member Mark Dely requested to move Consent Agenda item number 10.D, Approval of TSBA Officer Nomination, to a separate agenda item number 14. 3. Board member Ken Hoover requested to move FY 2015-2016 Budget Amendment 9, from Consent Agenda/ item number 10.C to a separate agenda item number 15.

Discussion:  Board member and TLN Representative Natalie Williams passed out copies of the legislative update power point to all the Board members. She brought two points up for discussion. 1) Make up of the standards review committee members 2) Implementation of the Special Education voucher bill. Superintendent Manuel shared his questions and concerns. Ms. Williams asked if other board members had any additional questions for the legislators, which she will be discussing during the TSBA conference call on Wednesday July 29, 2015.

Discussion:  Superintendent Jason Manuel said that the District is excited in getting ready for the new school year. He appreciated all the successful projects, the new windows at Farmington Elementary School, the new Gym floor at Houston Middle School and the energy efficient updates at Houston High School, that were completed during the summer before the new school year. He welcomed Ms. Karen Dodd, the newly hired Student Services Coordinator. He said that the district is working with Collierville on the alternative school program. He gave updates on the upcoming trainings for the Principals, the Assistant Principals and the various Data driven instructional programs and software that the district is trying to implement. He said that the enrollment in the district is growing. He briefed on the discussions he had with the legislature representatives and the Board members.

Discussion:  There were no citizens to be heard.

Discussion:  Board Vice-Chairman Linda Fisher said that when the turf project at HHS was initially discussed, she did not feel GMSD should be funding a turf field because back then there were several areas that GMSD needed to financially address in its budget. She explained that the several concerns were reserves, OPEB, resource teachers, SPED coordinator, textbooks, 1:1 technology, start times, and educational lanes for teachers, all of which have been funded at this time. She said that this was the project that was envisioned for our school district, Parents and the business community working together for a common goal and now the city has joined in this partnership. She said that since she was asked why instead of funding the turf field, are we not giving the teachers a raise? she would like to bring to the attention that the board approved a step raise for teachers last year and this year. GMSD, as of this coming year, also will pay for educational lanes for our teachers. This will provide additional pay to teachers with advanced degrees. The classified staff also received a raise after 4 years. To answer the question why are we not hiring more teachers with that money for smaller sized classrooms? she answered that the board has already set aside $440,000 to lower student/teacher ratios, but until we have more classroom space it will be difficult to lower student/teacher ratios. She said that she was in full support of giving these funds for the turf field and becoming a part of this partnership. Board member Ken Hoover, objected to the budget amendment FY(15-16)-9 because: 1) The turf field project was never intended to draw on district funds. 2) The Foundation has raised more than enough money to complete current project and 3) The District has many, many higher priority needs. Board member Mark Dely, said that though he supports the turf project and the public-private partnership, he sees conflicting issues and two sides at this time.