March 6, 2017 at 6:30 PM - GMSD Board Meeting

Houston High School Choir, Fifth Measure performed under the direction of Dr. Billy Rayburn.

fifth measure is a mixed contemporary a cappella ensemble from Houston High School. 

Under the direction of Dr. Billy Rayburn, the group performs a wide variety of music including a cappella pop, jazz, and contemporary music.  

fifth measure performed at the 2012 National Association for Music Education In-Service in Nashville.

Last year, the group released their first CD, titled 38/39, along with the school’s female ensemble, Dol-Chay Bella.

During the 2016 A cappella Educators Association National Conference the group placed 7^th in the nation.

This school year the ensemble has again been selected as a finalist for the National Championship of the A cappella Educators Association High School Championship. 

In addition, fifth measure won the South Quarterfinals of the International Championship of High School A cappella in Norcross, Georgia last month. 

Dol-Chay Bella placed second in the same competition.  As a result, both groups have advanced to the ICHSA Semi-finals in Orlando, Florida. 

If either group wins the competition, they will be invited to New York City for the ICHSA finals. Finally, fifth measure will be performing at the Tennessee Music Educators Conference on Friday, April 7. 

The following Tenured Teachers were recognized followed by a brief reception,

• Leslie Austin, Classroom Teacher 6-8, Houston Middle School    

• Amie Bourne, Speech and Language Pathologist, Riverdale Elementary School    

• William Brock, Classroom Teacher 9-12, Houston High School    

• Leslie Brommer, Classroom Teacher 9-1, Houston High School    

• Brianna Gould,   Classroom Teacher K-5   Farmington Elementary    

• Rachel Heberling, Classroom Teacher K-5, Riverdale Elementary    

• Christine Hingle, School Psychologist, District Office     

• Jessica Johnson, Classroom Teacher 6-8, Riverdale Elementary    

• Lori Matthews, Classroom Teacher K-5, Dogwood Elementary    

• Karen Mills, Special Education Teacher K-5, Farmington Elementary    

• Ben Schneider, Classroom Teacher 9-12, Houston High School       

Day on the Hill – February 20-21, 2017

A great day and a half in Nashville. 

We met with 6 Legislators (Rep. Mark White, Rep. Eddie Smith, Rep. Dwayne Thompson, Senator Kelsey, Senator Mark Norris and Rep. Harry Brooks).  The legislators were made up of our local representatives as well as Key legislators in the Education committees.

Our message to all Legislators we met were in line with our Legislative Agenda:

• We do not support School Vouchers – by any name

• We do not support School Board Partisan elections or elections for Superintendents

• We support physical activity in our schools, but time required at the Grades 10 – 12 level will present challenges due to these classes not currently being offered.

• We support any changes to the BEP which are funded.

We also had the opportunity to attend the Joint Education Committee Meeting – speakers were Commissioner Candice McQueen and Shelby County Superintendent Dorsey Hopson and Shelby County Board of Education Chairman Chris Caldwell.

We met with Dr. Sara Heyburn Morrison at the State Board of Education.  We heard an overview of their 2017 Master Plan and gave them our views of several of the Bills currently being drafted.  We also discussed their current effort to become the LEA of several schools in the Memphis and Nashville areas.

GMSD Legislative Agenda

Review the agenda – small comment of each item.

Other items which we are also giving voice to – Grading system of A to F and ACT as a choice for annual assessment.

Other Updates

TLN Weekly Conference Calls – Municipalities

GMSD Day on the Hill – March 29^th  

Community Conversation

 Community Conversation, an initiative to promote meaningful work for young people with developmental disabilities was held. The evening was funded by a grant that has been awarded to the district by Vanderbilt University. City officials, school board members, community members, special education teachers, faith-based organizations, parents of individuals with disabilities, as well as students themselves were all in attendance to discuss:

* How can we support business leaders and families in increasing opportunities for students with disabilities and their success rate once placed? Thank you to everyone that attended.

Community Tour Day

Germantown Municipal Schools opened their doors to stakeholders in the community on Community Tour Day. Community leaders and local policy makers were invited to see what our award winning schools are all about.

CityCURRENT, A Mid-South force for good made up of 75+ partner companies giving back and sharing positives in our community had a tour as well as Leadership Germantown and local politicians and city officials.

Senior Citizens Go Back to School Bus Tour and a tour for interested families also took place.

Riverdale Play

Congratulations to the students, parents and teachers at Riverdale for Shrek The Musical JR., Everyone's favorite ogre, Shrek, lead a cast of fairytale misfits on an adventure to rescue a princess and find true acceptance. It was a terrific play from the singing to the tap dancing to the laughs.

Chief Financial Officer Kevin Jones presented the Financial Reports, which included the Balance Sheet, Revenue and Expense Statement and Cafeteria Report as of 1.31.2017

Superintendent Jason Manuel gave a PowerPoint presentation on "Review of Middle School programs and offerings" per the GBOE Annual Agenda item. He outlined the following,

• ELA (English Language Arts)
• Math
• Science
• Social Studies
• ESL (English as a Second Language)
• RTI (Response to Intervention)
• Elective Options

He gave an overview for the different grade levels at Houston Middle School and Riverdale Elementary School.

The following policies are being revised after first reading,

IP 4.202 Special Education

IP 4.613 Programs for Students with Disabilities

IP 4.614 Isolation or Restraint of Students Receiving IDEA Special Education Services

Superintendent Manuel shared the Success story of Houston High School Girls Basket Ball Team.

• At the Sectional finals, beat Arlington 56-52
• At the Regional Finals beat Central 61-54
• Their Record this year is 27-3 and  for the last 2 years was 54-6
• They have won 3 District Championships in the last 4 years, the Winning Class in the 25 year history  of Houston Girls Basketball

Mr. Manuel said that he was very excited on their success and wished them luck in the upcoming State Championship against Clarksville.