December 18, 2018 at 6:30 PM - GMSD Board Meeting

Chairman Betsy Landers called the meeting to order at 6:34 pm.

Board members, re-elected and newly elected after the November election were sworn in, with their family beside them, by Judge Robert M Brannon Jr.

Ms. Betsy Landers - Position 2 - Re-elected

Ms. Angela Griffith - Position 4 - Newly elected

After discussion in the work session, the Board recommended the following amendment to the agenda,

• To pull the Revision of Policy SP 6.206 Transfers within System from Consent Agenda Item 8.B and add it to Board Action Items as item 9.C

STUDENTS

Tatum Carter, the winner of the GMSD Holiday Card Contest.

Each year, GMSD chooses one piece of artwork to create our district holiday card.  We were pleased to announce last month that Tatum Carter of Houston High School has won the contest for 2018 for his work.  (I will show it on the screen for everyone to see, you can indicate it).  We would also like to thank both Amanda Schulter and Bobby Spillman for their work and dedication to the visual arts programming at Houston High School. Congratulations.

Coding, Computer Science, and STEM are fields that we are excited to be preparing students for in Germantown Municipal School District.  We have two student teams that are finalists at the state level for their extraordinary work.  We’d like to recognize both of those teams tonight.  We will first recognize the winners of the Congressional App Challenge.  This year, the app they’ve developed is a fun riff on the classic Super Mario Brothers game including original music by one of the team members.  This is the second year that Houston High School has had a team to win for our Congressional District.  Also here tonight, which includes some repeat winners from last year also, is the state finalist team for the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Challenge. The contest asks students to envision apps that will make the world a better place.  The app proposed by this team matches high school students with career pathways and interest inventories to help them plan a better strategy for post-secondary efforts.  On behalf of the board I will call all of these students their teacher forward to be recognized:

Nick Anewalt

Lauren Gunter

Jake Manuel

Zach Morris

Kenneth Pratt

Seth Painter

Julia Maxwell

Pranav Desurkar

Leslie Brommer

November

·      Attended Board Orientation (11/26)

·      Participated in an GMTV Interview, with Supt. Manuel (11/28)

·      Attended the Houston Middle Bands Holiday Concert (11/29)

December

·      Participated in the OPEB meeting (12/6)

·      Participated in the Germantown Holiday Parade (12/9)

·      Attended the Health Sciences Advisory Network breakfast and tour at HHS (12/13)

·      Attended the City’s Legislative Luncheon (12/13)

·      Served as a judge for the Farmington Elementary Spelling Bee (12/17)

Both October and November 2018 reports were provided to the Board.

Comments on October 2018 report include: 

In the Health Insurance Fund, claims decreased to $306K for the month, which is below our target of $318K monthly. 

In the OPEB Trust Fund, an unrealized loss of $122K were reported by US Bank for the month.  Note that there was a $27K unrealized gain in November to offset.  The OPEB Commission will continue to monitor the Trust’s investment performance with US Bank.

Comments on November 2018 report include:

REPORT TOTAL ASSETS AND TOTAL LIAB AND FUND BALANCES FOR NOVEMBER 2018

SCHOOL OPERATING FUND

Sales tax revenues are up $80K compared to prior year.

The target percentages were added for your reference (i.e., administrative or support categories – 42%; instructional categories – 34%).  For total expenditures, we are at 29.62%

HEALTH INSURANCE

Health insurance claims for November 2018 decreased to $297K, which is below our target amount of $318K monthly.  Y-T-D claims are averaging $354K.

Superintendent Jason Manuel gave an elaborate Power Point presentation on Social Emotional Health.

The following District Office Staff joined the Presentation;

• Dan Haddow, Assistant Superintendent
• Chauncey Bland, Executive Director of Student Services
• Mason Grace, Director of Curriculum Technology
• Kate Crowder, Communications Coordinator

The Presentation can be viewed on the GMSD website under the following link http://www.gmsdk12.org/SuperintendentsReport121818.aspx

The Highlights of the presentation were as follows:

Multiple Stakeholders - Understanding and Actions

• No Bullying Task Force
• School Counselors
• General Public
• School Administrators
• 3rd-12th Grade Students
• School Staff
• District and School Board Leadership
• Next Steps in Social Emotional Health
•  

The following citizen voiced their concerns regarding Residents Transfer Policy,

Natalie Williams- 8049 Neshoba Road, Germantown TN 38138

The following citizen voiced their concerns regarding Leadership in Germantown Board of Education,

John Ueleke, 1792 Wellsley Drive, Germantown TN 38139

After discussion in Work Session, the Board decided to amend, Policy 6.2061 Inter-District Open Enrollment as follows;

• Strike line 21 & 22 on Page 1
• Page 2, Line 4-5, the sentence with the red strike " if, in a certain priority level, there are more applicants than seats available, the seats will be awarded through a lottery format." is added back 
• Strike Page 2, Line 7 & 8
• Move line 8 & 9 to be inserted at the end of the sentence in line 34 of page 1
• Add "based on Grades, Discipline and/or Attendance" to line 10 at the end of the sentence

Amendments to Policy 6.206 Transfers within the system are as follows:

• Page 2, Line 1-2, the sentence with the red strike " if, in a certain priority level, there are more applicants than seats available, the seats will be awarded through a lottery format." is added back
• Strike Line 7-8 on Page 2
• Move line 8,9 & 10 "starting with grade bands" until "school year" to be inserted at the end of the sentence in line 25 of page 1
• Add "based on Grades, Attendance and Discipline" to line 11 at the end of the sentence

Chairman Betsy Landers made the following announcements;

• Last day of school for winter break - Wednesday December 19
• Students return after winter break on Thursday January 3
• 2019 Legislative Breakfast is scheduled for Friday January 4, 9:00 am at Arlington Community Schools, Administrative Building
• Next Board Meeting is Tuesday January 15 at the City Hall