January 29, 2018 at 6:30 PM - GMSD Board Meeting

The Board recommended two amendments to the agenda as follows,

1. Add item 9.C under Board Action items - GBOE Resolution 6/2017-18 Nurse Position Ratio

2. Add item 9.D under Board Action items- GBOE Resolution 7/2017-18 RTI Positions

Germantown Municipal School Board Recognitions January 2018

Congressional App Winners & their Teacher:  Mason Rocha, Tyler Scaramastro, Henry Abrams, and Ms. Leslie Brommer

From newly added coding classes to the district's one-to-one initiative, Germantown Municipal School District recognizes what an incredible asset technology can be in education. This asset can be equally incredible in pursuit of fun.

Tonight, we recognize three Houston High students and their teacher who were recently recognized for winning a Congressional Contest.

Tyler Scaramastro, Henry Abrams, and Mason Rocha designed and coded a game dubbed “Jump” and have won the Congressional App Challenge for the West Tennessee region. 

Members of Congress organize this annual competition within their district, and students must create an original application for the opportunity to be recognized and awarded prizes.  These three students received a visit from State Representative David Kustoff last month.

“Jump” is reminiscent of an array of addicting apps, and involves a player having to make their square icon jump onto randomly generated ledges, under the time constraint of rising lava.

Their 150 levels and classic videogame interface all further the boys’ creative design and are magnificently executed.

They are joined also this evening by their teacher, Leslie Brommer, who guided the students through the process and encouraged them to enter the contest.  We are grateful to have wonderful teachers like Ms. Brommer in our schools.

Ms. Kathleen Fisher, School Counselor of Riverdale

In affluent places like Germantown, it is often easy to forget about some residents struggling to make ends meet or dealing with difficult family issues. Riverdale School Counselor, Kathleen Fisher, made a point this season to reach out and serve those less fortunate in our own community through a variety of programs.  Working with her group, the Student Ambassadors, she has created a new popular program.

Ms. Fisher and her students are sending home food in back packs with students on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to help meet the needs of struggling families.  She calls it the “Snack Pack”.  And it’s simple but it goes a long way.

Funded by donations from parents and teachers, the bags are packed with after-school snacks and treats for students who may not have access to afternoon snacks in their own home. These snacks are then specially packaged into groups of ten by student volunteers, and then discreetly put in student’s backpacks by staff. 

To date, they've filled approximately 200 bags (that's 2,000 snack packs).

Although she credits the PTO, the teachers, and her student crew, School Counselor Kathleen Fisher has brought several innovative and successful programs like the all-dad parent support group, The Knight's Watch, or Snack Packs to Riverdale this year.

·      Arlington hosted a Legislative breakfast on January 5^th.  We were able to speak with Senator Mark Norris, Senator Brian Kelsey, Rep. Ron Lollar and Rep. Jim Coley.  We spoke with them regarding multiple issues which focused on lack of control at the local level and lack of full funding of the BEP.  They requested that we get them more evidentiary information to use during their session so that they are well prepared to support us.  I will be working with our Superintendent and District Staff to gather information for our meetings during the TSBA Day on the Hill. 

·      We do not anticipate that the 111^th Session of the Legislature will be as full of legislation as last year.  We will be approving our Legislative Agenda tonight as a part of our consent agenda as we want to ensure that the Legislature understands our position on these issues.  Our Board will be attending the TSBA Day on the Hill on February 12 and 13^th.  We will be meeting with our legislators to ensure they hear our voice on these issues.

·      The Department of Education has reconvened its Task Force on TNReady.  They added Rep. Mark White as a member.  They met for the first time on December 11^th and had their second meeting on Friday, January 19^th.  I will be attending their 3^rd meeting in Nashville on February 26^th. 

·      The Tennessee Board of Education’s next meetings are today and tomorrow.  They had a workshop at noon today and their Board meeting is at 9:00 tomorrow.  I will be working with the Superintendent and District Staff to cover these meetings so that we can understand any potential policy changes which might be developing. 

·      The TN Gubernatorial candidates took part in a forum focused on Education on January 23^rd from 7:00 to 8:00.  It was hosted by The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) and Belmont University.   May Beavers nor Dianne Black were able to attend.  There was a consistent theme of discussion that Teacher pay should increase and that more money should be spent on Education.  There was no in depth discussion about how this will happen.

Met with Superintendent Manuel

*   Attended the municipal school districts annual “Coffee with Our     Legislators” at Arlington Community Schools Administrative    Building, January 5^th.

*   Chaired the January 5^th Special Called Meeting on the approval   of the Computer Purchase for 1:1 Program

*   Chaired the January 10^th Work Session on Attendance Zoning

    As a Board, we had the opportunity, with the staff, to work on    potential attendance zoning scenarios for the new elementary   schools. There will be a public forum in February to offer the     community the opportunity to learn more about the process    that goes into restructuring attendance zones, review potential    options,  and to offer their     input.

REPORT TOTAL ASSETS AND TOTAL LIAB AND FUND BAL

SCHOOL OPERATING FUND

Revenue forecasts indicate positive variances (i.e., forecasted actual exceeds the budgeted amount) for sales tax, maintenance of effort from the City of Germantown, BEP, interest income, and mixed drink tax, totaling approximately $800K.  These positive variances will offset the use of reserves in prior budget amendments.

CAFETERIA FUND

ARAMARK continues to report a profit y-t-d.

OPEB TRUST

The OPEB Trust reimbursed the Health Insurance Fund by $53K for the first quarter’s retiree health insurance claims.  This is approximately 50% lower than prior year.

Superintendent Jason Manuel informed that his Report will focus on one of the Strategic Goal on Literacy which will be presented by Dr. Meredith Park, Director of Academic Advancement. 

Dr. Park reported the following to the Board:

Goal 1: Maximize Student Potential

Indicator: Literacy Rate: Percentage (% of K-2 students who are reading on or above grade level (Objective 1.1)

Research shows us that children who are not reading at grade level by the end of third grade are four times as likely to drop out of school.  Each dropout, over his or her lifetime, costs the nation approximately $260,000.

In Tennessee, we have a state strategic plan which lists one of our goals is to have 75% of 3^rd graders will be reading on grade level by 2025.  Currently, only 43% of 3^rd graders are reading on grade level. 

Our Board has been instrumental in being proactive to try to chart the progress of our students in the primary grades to ensure that our students will not leave third grade without reading on grade level.  To measure grade level equivalency, we use the STAR Early Literacy Assessment.  It is an online assessment that is adaptive and administered three times a year.  

Our data shows that from the first benchmark to the second benchmark, we have grown 11.3% to have 90% of our students reading on grade level.  If this trend continues, we will be on track to have 100% of our kindergarten students reading on or above grade level.  Similarly, we have the same positive growth with our first graders.  We have seen a 9.3% growth from the first benchmark to the second resulting in 94.3% of our first graders reading on or above grade level.

Chairman Betsy Landers announced the following upcoming events;

Thursday Feb 1 - 6:30 pm Public