November 30, 2021 at 6:00 PM - GMSD Board Business Meeting

Discussion:  Chairman Amy Eoff called the meeting to order at 6:20 pm.

Discussion:  Chairman Amy Eoff called for a moment of silence.

Discussion:  Board member Angela Griffith led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Discussion:  Student Recognitions

To recognize the extraordinary achievements of the Houston Middle School and Houston High School students who were selected to participate in Choral All-West.
These middle school and high school students were selected by a rigorous audition for the WTBSOA All-West Choral Performance.
Grace Mitchell
Savannah Chandler
Kennedy Tensley
Mae Sistrunk
Kyra-V Gard-AY
Kate Emfinger
Jacob Rozier
Declan Storey
Colby Corkan
Andrew Grooms
Josiah Storey
Ellie Midha
Manya Tyagi
Jazmine Nesbit
Abigail Hetherington
Grace Calvert
Grace Applebaum
Eliza Danila
Emily Wool-Key
Annmarie Durfee
Halena Edwards
Micaela De-Cray-mer
Anna Enochs
Owen Walsh
Amelia Summy
Savannah Klepko
Katelyn Shoggen
Colin Brooks
Thomas Peters
Micah Loftis

Staff Recognitions
Laura Liddon - Riverdale Elementary School Staff member that is making a difference - Employees that Empower Award.
Each month, students and educators will focus on a character trait. For the month of October, Mrs. Liddon teaches her students on a lesson about courage using the new Character Strong Curriculum. In her Riverdale classroom, Mrs. Liddon engages second graders in question and answer sessions, captivating posters, and fun games. She not only acts as a teacher for young children but also a role-model.
Truly encapsulating the essence of the new curriculum, Mrs. Liddon influences students in building strong character traits and creates a safe environment within her classroom.

 

Discussion:  Board Member and TLN Representative Ryan Strain presented the TLN Report as follows,
Last month the Tennessee General Assembly held its third special legislative session of the year.  Several laws related to education and the COVID-19 pandemic were passed, including the following, all of which are new sections of the Tennessee Code:

• Section 14-2-101, which prohibits a school or district from mandating that a person receive a COVID-19 vaccine or requiring proof of vaccination as a condition of access to the school, the school’s premises, or in order to receive services.
• Section 14-2-102, which prohibits a school or district from compelling or taking an adverse action against a person to compel proof of vaccination if the person objects to receiving a COVID-19 vaccine for any reason.
• Section 14-2-104, which sets forth the only method that may be used to mandate face coverings in schools.
• Section 14-4-101, which provides the Commissioner of Health has the sole authority to determine quarantine guidelines for schools and for persons who test positive for COVID-19, and also provides that a school does not have the authority to quarantine a person for purposes of COVID-19.

Just prior to and following Governor Lee signing the new COVID legislation, legal actions were instituted in federal courts in Memphis and Nashville seeking clarification of the Shelby County Health Department’s authority to continue enforcing its orders and the legality of the new state law’s mask provisions.

The legislature also passed a law permitting partisan school board elections.  The legislation is permissive, with the decision to be made by county political party primary boards.  School board candidates may campaign as the nominee or representative of a political party if at least one county primary board decides to conduct partisan school board elections.  For the reasons stated in last month’s TLN Report and which will be explained in more detail in a letter posted to the Board’s Legislative Advocacy page on the GMSD website, the Board opposes partisan school board elections.  The Board encourages community members to contact Shelby County political parties with opposition to partisan school board races, as well.

In other General Assembly news, Senator Brian Kelsey has temporarily stepped down as Chair of the Senate Education Committee following his indictment on charges of violating federal campaign finance law.  Senator Jon Lundberg of Bristol was named interim Chair.

In Tennessee Department of Education news, the Department has adopted emergency rules governing enforcement of recent legislation regarding prohibited concepts in public schools.  The emergency rules will be in effect until May 7, 2022, when the Department expects to adopt final rules.

In legal news, civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit in Nashville challenging the recently enacted state law requiring that a student’s gender for purposes of participation in interscholastic athletics must be determined by the student’s sex at the time of the student’s birth, as indicated on the student’s original birth certificate.
 

Discussion:  Chairman Amy Eoff presented the Chairman's Report as follows,

Mr. Strain reports he attended TSBA webinars regarding teacher tenure, collaborative conferencing, and special session legislation. He participated in two attorney roundtables regarding special session legislation. He also attended TSBA leadership conference, convention and delegate assembly, the TN Department of Education Town Hall regarding public school funding, the Dogwood PTO meeting and co-hosted a joint meeting between GBoE and BMA regarding GMSD Master Facilities Plan.

Ms. Landers reports she co-hosted the joint BMA/BOE dinner meeting.  She attended the Houston High Theatre performance of ‘Emma’, the TN Department of Education Town Hall regarding public school funding, and the TSBA Leadership Conference, Convention, and delegate assembly.

Mr. Curry reports he attended HHS Trunk or Treat, HHS Choir Fall Fest, HHS production of "Emma", TSBA Leadership Conference, Convention, and delegate assembly. He co-hosted a joint meeting between GBoE and BMA regarding GMSD Master Facilities Plan. He attended FHES Family Movie Night, FHES Veteran's Day Celebration, four HMS basketball games, and Mr. Frizzell's 8th grade social studies class at Riverdale.

Ms. Griffith reports she attended TN Dept of Education Funding Town Hall at the National Civil Rights Museum, and the TSBA Webinar Legislative Update from Third Special Session. She co-hosted a joint meeting between GBoE and BMA regarding GMSD Master Facilities Plan. She virtually attended and enjoyed Riverdale’s annual I love America Program and Houston High School Theatre’s performance of Emma the musical, and attended TSBA Leadership Conference, Convention and Delegate Assembly.

Ms. Eoff reports she attended TN Dept of Education Funding Town Hall at the National Civil Rights Museum, Houston High School Theatre’s performance of Emma the musical, Houston Mustang Football’s final regular season game, and The Houston Band’s last marching competition of their season. She co-hosted a joint meeting between GBoE and BMA regarding GMSD Master Facilities Plan, coordinated and met with municipal board chairmen twice, and  attended TSBA Board Chairmen Roundtable, Leadership Conference, Convention and Delegate Assembly.

The weekend before Thanksgiving your school board attended the TSBA Leadership Conference, Convention and Delegate Assembly.  Through this conference, we were able to network with school boards across the state, speak directly to legislators and board attorneys, gain insight into best practices happening in other districts, and hear from speakers who encouraged and pushed us to continue the hard work of doing what is right for our students. It was a busy and fruitful event.

And To our families this holiday season, Happy Hanukkah!
 

Discussion:  Chief Financial Officer Kevin Jones reported the Total Assets, Liabilities, and Fund Balances on the Balance Sheet for period ending 10.31.21

SCHOOL OPERATING FUND
$355K was paid to Shelby County Schools for our OPEB liability.

FEDERAL PROJECTS
$2.3 million in ESSER 2.0 funding was spent y-t-d representing 50% of the total budget.

HEALTH INSURANCE FUND
$91K was received in stop loss reimbursements for health insurance claims.

CAFETERIA FUND
SFE reported a net income of $88K for the month.

OPEB TRUST FUND
Year-to-date realized and unrealized gains on investments totaled $98K

Discussion:  Superintendent Jason Manuel presented the Superintendent’s Report with the following Highlights in his PowerPoint presentation,

ESSER FUNDING UPDATES

• ESSER 3.0 Grant
• ESSER 2.0 Grant
• TN ALL Corps Funding Grant FY22
• To support the Tutoring Program addressing student’s Learning Loss due to COVID

CHARACTER STRONG

• k-12 Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Program
• Focuses on the Importance of,
  • Belonging
  • Well-Being
  • Engagement
  • Leadership

The above presentation can be found at our GMSD website link https://www.gmsdk12.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=2177271&type=d&pREC_ID=2181786
 

Discussion:  The following Citizen voiced their opinion on COVID-19 Clinical Update,
Dr. Carle. C. Kalsi, 2300 Elderslie Drive, Germantown TN 38139

Discussion:  The Board recommended the following changes/edits to the below 4 policies, to be updated and added to the Consent Agenda for the Business Meeting on 10.26.21

HR Policy 5.501 Employee Related Complaints - Page 1/ Line 13, After Human Resources, add "or Director's designee".
                                                                                 - Page 1 / Line 15, Add a new sentence at the end, "If a satisfactory resolution of the problem cannot be reached after speaking with the Deputy                                                                                       Superintendent, the employee may contact the Superintendent."

Policy 3.217 Energy Management - Page 1/ Line 18 - Strike through "and"

Policy 6.425 Life-Threatening Allergy Management - Strike through Page 1 Line 9 Beginning "An IHP" until Line 12 ending "Tennessee Schools"

Policy 6.709 Student Fees and Fines - Page 1 / Item No. 1 - Clarification on Field trips - It will remain in the policy.
                                                               - Page 2 / Line 13, "Director" replaced with "GMSD Assistant Superintendent"

Discussion:  Chairman Amy Eoff announced the following,

December 6 - Battle of Germantown Riverdale VS HMS Basketball Games boys & girls
December 11 - Germantown Holiday Parade - 2:00 pm
December 13 - Houston High Band Holiday Concert 7:00 pm at Houston High Auditorium
December 14 - Next Board Business Meeting - 5:00 pm
December 14 - Houston High Choir Holiday Concert 7:00 pm at Germantown United Methodist Church





 

Discussion:  The meeting was adjourned with consensus at 7:01 pm.