October 23, 2017 at 6:30 PM - GMSD Board Meeting

Chairman Linda Fisher called the meeting to order at 6:34 pm. She thanked Riverdale Elementary for hosting the Board meeting and informed that Board member Betsy Landers was unable to attend the meeting.

• Riverdale Raider Theater: Some Enchanted Evening 
• 2017 National Merit Semi-Finalists:  Five Houston High School students join the ranks of the nation's top students this year as the National Merit Scholarship Program names its semi-finalists.
• Jonathan Wang

• Vincent Wang

• Lilly He

• Adam Kim

• Mohammed Hyder

  
  

  About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit
  Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying
  Test (PSAT/NMSQT®) last fall. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring
  entrants in each state. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32

   million that will be offered next spring

Jake Manuel of Houston High School, Delta Region Winner of Tennessee School Board Association's Student Excellence Award.

Jake Manuel is currently at the top of his class at Houston High where he is enjoying his junior year. Aside from being an academic dynamo, he also holds a position on the Student Government's Association's (SGA) Executive Council in an effort to give back. Regular fixtures at SGA events like the Binghampton Trunk or Treat or Easter Egg Hunt, he understands the value of serving in the Greater Memphis Area. Manuel also serves as the captain of the Wrestling Team. A well-rounded and deserving student, he has been named the TSBA's Student Excellence Recognition for 2017.

Bonnie Lee, Delta Region Winner of TSBA Volunteer Recognition Award

Bonnie Lee is the quintessential, supportive PTA Mother at Riverdale K-8 school, a visionary leader and an incredible caretaker and a dedicated volunteer. She was nominated for this award by the School Board, the Principal and various other School Support Organizations. A few of her highlights to have earned this award are:

Heading committees on both the school and district PTAs, meticulous details of school functions and events, involving community via Digital citizenship, Tech Savvy Parenting strategies, Internet safety, Artzonia with the Art department, helping in several Grant opportunities, organized forums for school board candidates in last year's election.

Superintendent Jason Manuel was honored with the following awards;

• NSPRA 2017 Superintendent to Watch Award from the National Schools Public Relations Association
• TSSAA School System Administrator of the Year Award

Board member and TLN representative Suzanne Jones gave the following report;

·      We have met with several of our Legislators this fall to discuss items related to legislation where we believe we could use their help.  We met with Rep. Mark White and Dwayne Thompson and will be meeting this week with Rep. Kevin Vaughn and in November with Senator Brian Kelsey.  Our items of focus are testing as well as the A-F grading scale. 

·      We have heard that due to the multitude elections in 2018 that the session will most likely end in mid-April and that the Education legislation will most likely focus on Higher Education.

·      The House Joint Education Committee will be meeting tomorrow at 1:00 to discuss several bills as a Summer Study (information about previously tabled bills).  On the agenda is HB501/SB481.  As introduced, this bill would add funding for three Response to Instruction and Intervention positions within each public school to the Basic Education Program (BEP).  Also, on the agenda is HB503 which would change the funding in the BEP from one nurse per 3,000 students to one nurse per 750 students.  The committee will also discuss the results of the TNReady and the issues noted recently.

·      We will be working with the other municipalities to coordinate the Legislative breakfast in January to kick off the new the 111^th Session which will reconvene on January 9, 2018. 

·      Our Board and Superintendent will be attending the TSBA annual conference in Nashville November 3^rd through the 5^th.  The TSBA annual agenda and resolutions will be reviewed as a part of this conference.  

Chairman Linda Fisher presented the following report;

GMSD Closed on New Property

GMSD closed on the new school property located off of Forest Hill Irene Road and Poplar Pike.

We are thankful for our relationship with the City of Germantown leadership, who places a priority on education and funding our schools. This land purchase was a major step towards addressing the growth needs of the district and community.

Zoning Process

We are excited to begin the process of building the new school as well as alleviate capacity issues at our current elementary schools. Part of the development of a new elementary school will be the creation of new elementary and middle school attendance zones.

Before GMSD redraws the attendance zone boundaries, we would like to engage the citizens of Germantown in this process. The district will host forums, surveys, and a focus group to help our school board make zoning decisions in the Spring of 2018.

We are currently seeking current Germantown residents with school-aged children (enrolled in elementary or middle school) to serve on our focus group.

The application closes at midnight on October 31st. For more information and to apply for the Germantown Municipal School District Attendance Zone Focus Group, go to our web site.

Student Achievement Highlights

Congratulations to Dogwood, Farmington, Riverdale and Houston Middle who all qualified to compete at the state cross country championships this past weekend in Knoxville. 

Houston Middle School took the state championship.

HHS Girls Soccer  is heading to state for the 14^th consecutive year. Volleyball won regions for  7^th consecutive year.

Congratulations to Houston and Collierville high schools for joining together to raise $22,000 for Make A Wish.

We have award winning students being recognized every day for their achievements and GMSD is proud of all our students

Superintendent Jason Manuel presented the Financial Reports, which included the Balance Sheet, Revenue and Expense Statement as of 9.30.2017. He updated on the various Budgets- General Fund, Federal Project, Cafeteria, Capital Projects, Health Insurance funds, OPEB Trust, and General fixed assets and highlighted on the following;

Cafeteria Fund: Enhanced financial performance over prior years, ARAMARK reporting a profit of $ 28,000 YTD.

Health Insurance Fund: The Accrued Expense or INCURRED BUT NOT REPORTED (IBNR) has been updated as of 6.30.17 to $672,669. This amount relates to 16-17 claims and will be adjusted at the end of June 30, 2018. If the amount was $500,000 as of 6.30.18, claims expense would be reduced by $172,669.

OPEB TRUST: Investment performance reflects as unrealized gain of $58,000. 62% of expected ($112,000) return for year has been achieved.

Superintendent Jason Manuel said that we cannot imagine a more successful period for the District and presented his Power point Statistical report on the following;

• Highest ACT Average three years in a row - Statistics of High School end of year exam results in comparison to the State percentile ranking
• 2017 End of Course DATA showing Average Growth as 23%
• 2016-17 TN Ready Results - Top Three in the State in ALL Areas
• Exemplary District status based on Test Scores

Chairman Linda Fisher thanked Mr. Joseph Bond, the Principal of Riverdale Elementary School for hosting the Board Meeting.

She announced that the next Board meeting was scheduled for November 20, 2017 at the City Council Chambers.