April 13, 2023 at 5:30 PM - Bradley County Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion:  Chairman Amanda Lee, 6th District Board Member, welcomed the families, staff, community, and representatives to the Board meeting. Chairman Lee recognized the commissioners in attendance; Chair Tom Crye, Commissioner Tommy Ledford, Commissioner Scott Gilbert, Commissioner Daniel Beaty. 

Discussion:  The pledge to the flag was led by Ted Bryson.

Discussion:  Chairman Lee asked for a Moment of Silence to honor the victims who lost their lives in the tragic shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, on March the 27th. Also to honor two former employees, Betty Jo Pierce and Juanita Clayton, who passed away prior to the last board meeting. Both were Special Education Assistants and Janita also drove a special ed bus for the district. 

Discussion:  Chairman Lee asked, "Does anyone have any items that they would like to pull from the consent agenda at this time?"
Mr. Taylor asked to pull Item D on the Consent Agenda.
Chairman Lee moved Item D, under Item 18. 
 

Discussion:  No one signed up to address the Board.  

Discussion:  Dr. Cash reported:

• TCAP testing will begin on April 17, and all TCAP tests will be completed and turned in by April 28. 
• Our Board has been working with our Finance Department, and on our budgeting, and we want to assure everybody that even though we don't present this budget until May 4, we want to go ahead and let our faculty and staff know that we're working extremely hard to keep the salaries competitive, and making sure that we are either matching or succeeding our surrounding districts.
• Bradley County Schools raised $13,118 for Make a Change Day.
• Prospect Elementary and Walker Valley High School received STEAM Designations from the Tennessee Department of Education.
• Dr. Cash was excited to show the monthly Reach Higher Promotional Video. The April theme is Student Leadership. 

Discussion:  The four students that had the opportunity to attend TSBA SCOPE, Student Congress On Policies in Education, Conference were presented Certificates. Each student spoke about their time at SCOPE.

• Macy King, a sophomore at Walker Valley High School, stated, "Going to SCOPE at Belmont was one of the coolest experiences I've had so far in high school. It was cool to see how a school board works best, do some mock school board meetings on topics that were serious. And, I really enjoyed getting to voice my opinion. Thank you.
• Laney Inman, a sophomore at Bradley Central High School, stated, "I had a really great time with the SCOPE Conference. I learned a bunch of new debating topics and got to voice my opinion on certain topics that I feel very strongly about.
• Kendyl McConkey, a sophomore at Walker Valley High School, stated " I had a great time at SCOPE. I thought that it was a great experience and I learned a lot from it. I got a lot of great opportunities that I think will really help me to succeed and grow in the future. I really enjoyed being able to express my opinion on different topics, and just getting to see how things run."
• Caitlin McMahan, a sophomore at Bradley Central High School, stated, "I really enjoyed the SCOPE Conference. I liked being able to be there and being in the presence of all the people who had been in years before and figured out how to do everything. I like being able to see the size of the Pro and the Con. I really enjoyed seeing everyone's opinion and how they thought about everything. I just liked being there, it was a great atmosphere, and it helped me be a leader. And, I hope that I can shine my light to the community."

Discussion:  Dr. Candice Belt, Walker Valley Principal, introduced the State Champion Archery Team. Coach King spoke about the history and success of the team. 

Discussion:  Karen Slater, Director of Coordinated School Health, introduced and recognized Nurse Christie Norris for her 100th tele-medicine visits.

Discussion:  Supervisor of Career and Technical Education, Arlette Robinson, gave some exciting news about a grant that the district received. 

"It is my pleasure to report that Bradley County Schools has been approved for the Innovative Schools Model Grant, which will run from 2023 to 2026. This is a $3 million, non-competitive state grant. It's going to provide a million dollars for each high school, Bradley Central and Walker Valley, and 500,000 for each Middle School OMS and Lake Forest. This grant was designated in the governor's budget beginning this school year to be used directly for CTE programming. The funding for this grant will be used for capital projects such as much needed renovations to greenhouses. Our Walker Valley greenhouse was taken out in the last storm, part of the roof. And so it's much needed renovations to have some for Bradley as well. Automotive AV and STEM lab spaces at the high school, we can update those in capital with this money, CTE equipment and needs in high school programs. We've done a lot for PIE and this will bring money back to the high schools. It will also provide for sustainability of transportation to the PIE Center,so students can go there from our innovative high school model grant we have now, to this. Personnel is included in the grant to provide some of these programs. These programs, like the transportation in the middle school funds, will be used to create CTE program expansions, including health science classes at Lake Forest and Business and Marketing classes at Ocoee Middle. We are extremely excited to have this $3 million and we plan to use it well in Bradley County for CTE.

Discussion:  Corbett Drew read each change that was requested and explained the reasoning for the changes. 

Discussion:  Elizabeth Kaaylor, Elementary Supervisor, talked about the Bradley County Elementary Virtual School.

"Good evening. I'm happy to report that enrollment has boomed at all of our elementary schools, but with the exception of one, and that is our Virtual School. And so we have seen a steady decline, actually across several years. The elementary virtual school has only been open for a few years; we actually opened it initially as a response to COVID for students who needed virtual learning opportunities. And gradually across those years, we have seen enrollment decline as students have returned to traditional educational settings. So, for the coming school year, we are projecting that the enrollment for the entire three grades that remain at the elementary level to be only six students. And so, as you all are well aware with our funding formulas, that is not enough to provide for even one individual teacher's salary, so it makes it very difficult to justify the expense of providing those grade levels with that few of students. So I bring that information to you tonight for your consideration."

Discussion:  Mr. Scott Webb, Technology Supervisor, requested approval to implement the utilization of School Pass.

Scott Webb -
"Good evening. I'm here to ask you to approve a three-year contract with School Pass. School Pass is a cloud-based campus movement safety solution that we'll be using at PIE, Bradley Central High School, and Walker valley to start. It gives us the ability to monitor traffic and person traffic in the building in one cloud-based platform. So we can check student attendance, we can check who's actually on campus, visitor pass, visitor management system as well. It also gives us the ability to do emergency attendance, so if we're doing a fire alarm or fire drill or something and people have to evacuate the building, they can open an app and take attendance and do it that way. There also is a bus management solution of this, so we can actually scan kids when they get on the bus to say that they've left campus as well. There'll be a student and parent app that we'll be introducing later so that parents will be able to say, "My kid is sick today," and we'll be able to track all that data. And in the future, we'll be able to add a hall pass solution. Our principals that are at our high schools have said that we need a better system of tracking kids within the building as well. So that would give us the ability to add that on once it becomes available for this particular platform. The money for the first year of this platform will be through money that we got reimbursed for through Esser funds for this year. So it was stuff that we had put back into my budget this year, that we were actually able to move some of those funds back into Esser, and I got reimbursed for those funds. So we're using that to pay for that first year of this platform with that, and then we will work year three into the budget at a later date." 


 

Discussion:  Kyle Page gave an update on the Tennis Courts at Walker Valley High School and Bradley Central High School.

Kyle Page -
"Thank you all for giving me the opportunity to update you. So photos were taken of the posts that are loose at the tennis courts and sent to the general contractor. The subcontractor of the fencing has been on site and evaluated everything, their recommendation, and they met with the tennis court, Mr. Elrod as well as Mr. Coach Jackson, came out as well in met and looked at everything. Long story short, their plan of action forward is to re-solidify to get through season. And then, they have a plan once season is done to come in and drive larger posts, deeper posts, every so many posts. So they're coming in to do a larger structure, get a bigger footer, and re-solidify that is their next step. They wanted to reassure the Board, both from the general contractor in and the subcontractor, and that they do warranty those courts, they are under warranty and all fencing said that they are married to those and want to make sure that they get the best product for the Board. So, they will be scheduling that. Mr. Elrod and all fencing will be scheduling that once the season is up to make sure it doesn't impact camp schedule and those kinds of things. But, they do have a good plan of action moving forward."

Ted Byson -
"Did you say part of the posts or all of the posts? I was under the impression it was all of the posts."

Kyle Page -
"So their recommendation, that they discussed, was every other post, they were going to come in with the three inch anchor posts that go three feet deep with a larger footer. So right now you have those three inch posts as anchor posts in the corners, but they would extend these anchor posts out into where you've got the longer runs of fencing, every other fence. So I think it was 16 posts. I'll go back and count, but 16 posts of the larger posts that are going deeper.  Their plan is to take all the fencing down and redo all of that at both schools. And once that's complete, then Lee Murray will be on the schedule to come back and resurface around all those areas that are not that may be impacted in that process to make sure everything's taken care of."

Dr. Lovingood - 
"How many bids did we receive on this project?"

Kyle Page - 
"I believe there was two different groups that looked at the tennis courts."

Dr. Lovingood - 
"So we're going to get the same company that messed up multiple times,  Dr. Cash, to come look at. So if it was my house and I built a $1.2 million house, I believe I would look a third opinion. Someone to go look at it, get another opinion to make sure we're doing it well.

Vicki Beaty - 
"Isn't it under warranty?"

Kyle Page - 
"That is correct."

Vicki Beaty - 
"If we went away from that company, then we would have to pay additional funds with another company?"

Dr. Jeff Lovingood - 
"With all do respect, Ms. Beaty, if built a $1.2 million house and my foundation was messed up, I believe I would get another opinion before I use the same company to do it again. After it was over, make sure we did right."

Dr. Cash - 
"I respect what Dr. Lovingood is saying. Mr. Page, is there a possibility that we bring in the engineer for the project as well as the fencing company, and have board members who would like to meet with them at the courts to be there to review?

Kyle Page -
"Yes."

Dr. Cash -
"Okay. I would really appreciate that. And if the Board wanted a second opinion, after the board actually meets those members who would like to meet, I think I would recommend at that point for the Board for us to evaluate and see what it would cost. I know if anybody else does work it, it would invalidate the warranty. Is that correct?

Kyle Page - 
"Obviously, they're under warranty. If we get something done outside of their willingness, then that would be something separate. But with that said, I'm open to getting as many opinions as possible."

Dr. Lovingood - 
I appreciate going up there and looking at it. I'm not a contractor. I've never built a tennis court. And I'm not sure how much this company built tennis courts. But what I'm saying is this, I'm not saying for us to get another company to do the courts, I'm just saying in light of our issues at both schools, I would have another opinion, if it was my house. And, we spent $1.2 million taxpayers money on this, I think it would be wise to use wisdom and after it is over, getting someone to look at it, make sure that make sure we did well with our taxpayers' money, because I'm concerned."

Vicki Beaty - 
" As long as we remember, it is tax payers' money." 

Dr. Cash - 
"Madam Chair, May I clarify with Dr. Lovingood, meaning getting the work done, and then having someone review the work that was done? Absolutely. I understand that. I will be glad to investigate what that cost would be for the Board and bring that back to the board in May, because we will still be working on the tennis courts."

Dr. Lovingood - 
"In all due respect, if they say it's done well, I'm not sure if we have contractors up here. If they said it's done well, and they've met the requirements of the contract. I'm not sure if it's done well. But another opinion of an expert could say, Hey, man, that's it, that's this."

Dr. Cash -
Madam Chair. What I will do is, after that the review of the fencing, I will be looking for the cost of someone who can reevaluate that and do my due diligence and bring it to the board and option for a second opinion in May."

Chairman Lee - 
"Are you saying you want to do a second opinion after the work is done?"

Dr. Cash - 
"Yes"

Kyle Page - 
"I just want to make sure the board understands that work is not going to start until after tennis season, so that may be like June before that happens." That's fine. Why

Dr. Cash -
"That's fine."

 

Discussion:  Dr. Jeff Lovingood - 
"Yes, we had talked about work sessions. And I just think, going back to the word I kind of used a while ago, I just think there's wisdom in transparency and builds trust and goes up, we have a great unity on this board. We have great unity in our school system, and our county is awesome. We got unbelievable teachers and principals. And I think we've got so much so much to talk about so many neat things that are happening in our community at our schools. I think it would be wise for us to be able to have work sessions to talk about all the things that are going on, to get information, so we make wise decisions with clarity. And I think I think it'll make us all better. That's just my opinion. And I guess that's why my name was beside it."

Rachel Goins - 
"I kind of agree with what Dr. Lovingood said. I believe in our last meeting, there was a lot of discussion on the motion that Mr. Taylor made about the work sessions. And we are constantly reminded that we must do our own due diligence and homework when questions are concerned of any topic are up for discussion. With that being said, I've spent the last probably four weeks since our last board, doing a little investigation of my own and doing a little homework. I called roughly 30 of the 94 county schools in the state of Tennessee, to see if they have regular work for study sessions. And of those 30, over 50% of those, and more than 15, had work and study sessions. But, I wanted to take it a little bit further and do a little bit more homework. So, I reached out to the current state board member, who was also a local board member for 16 years. I do not know this board member; we've never met. But this board member is in a great position to give a new school board member, like me, some advice and guidance on important topics such as work sessions. I asked the question, why would the board need work sessions and these were his responses. We get other perspectives from other school board members, we can ask questions, which may generate more questions, concerns, and/or opinions. Work sessions are not hurried or rushed on making decisions. They allow school board members to focus on couple areas at a time, they greatly increased decisions made, and the quality of the decisions. We are better informed about past, present, and future topics in the county. I then asked another question, I said, Is there any reason why a board would not want to have regular work sessions? And, his response was logically no, he couldn't think of any one reason why the board would be opposed to regular or work study sessions. I was recently asked What are you hoping to accomplish on the board in the coming months and during my time as a school board member, and this is this was my response, I hope to establish meaningful relationships with leaders, principals, staff members within the community that's based on trust, respect, and integrity, ensuring their needs are a priority. And, nothing I do is with a hidden agenda. As a board member, I want to advocate for the community, help people as well as the board accountable, communicate a clear vision and most importantly, focus on the safety and development of the students. I don't think there's anything that we, as a board, can't accomplish, if we if we stay true to ourselves. I'm all for work sessions. And like I said, I know it was a topic that was greatly discussed and it might have gotten a little heated, or at least I felt like it was a little heated, but I did the homework and I do think they're warranted and that's why I'm gonna and yes."

Vicki Beaty - 
"I don't think there is a single board member sitting here that is against work session. Bradley County Board of Education has a rich history with having work sessions. I think that the concerns were over the topics and what topics would we need for a work session. For example, a contract or a budget. So what specifically were we looking at when we were talking about work sessions? Dr. Cash, I can ask you your opinion, because this is simply mine. But people unlisted, like principals or central office staff, unless it's necessary for them to be here regarding that subject that's on the agenda, then I would request that they not be here unless you feel that they need to be here regarding a subject that we're discussing."

Ted Bryson - 
"This Board meeting right here, every principal in this county has something on this agenda.  If you put everything in a work session, then every principal would need to be here, because something pertains to everyone in here. If we vote for a work session, then I'll be here. But then, we will have to go over the same stuff again to vote on, because the public is more interested in the voting session, than they are the work. They don't care if you don't understand this, whatever. They want to know how you're going to vote. And, on this session right here, they're nothing."

Chairman Lee - 
"I just want to clarify that, you know, I was one of the ones that said, I feel like it's our responsibility to do our homework. I said that, and I'm going to explain the reason why I said that. I'm not against having work sessions, I'll be here at any work session that we have. We actually have three board meetings coming up in May. When they are needed, I absolutely believe that we should have a work session. But in that same respect, if we're requesting a work session, and we're expecting Dr. Cash or her staff to get certain items together for that work session, then I feel that it is our responsibility to do our homework, so that they can get prepared. And, one example of that is that our last, the last work session we had was a budget work session. Ms. Willcutt sent out a budget priority worksheet for every board member to complete, before that work session. That is her request that gives direction for her on how to build the budget. So out of her trying to prepare for the work session for our benefit, after the deadline to submit that budget priority list, she sent a text and an email, and we still had three board members who did not complete that request. So, the first work session we had was very unproductive, because she didn't get input from every board member. So, then Dr. Cash and Ms. Willcutt set an entire day aside to meet one on one with each of us to go over the budget. And then we still had board members who had to cancel or could not come in on that day. So my point is, is I'm not against having work sessions at all, but I am against this board wanting to schedule meetings and expecting Dr. Cash and her staff to prepare for these meetings, and to be at these meetings, and to be away from their families in the evening, and then us not doing our part when we're requested to do something or to provide them with information to prepare for that meeting. If we ask them for something, we expect to get it. If they need something for us, it is our job to get it to them. Because at the end of the day, if we do not do that, we're hindering the progress of the school system. That's all I'm saying."

Josh Taylor -
"Madam Chair, if I may, I don't disagree with those statements as far as homework goes. My reasoning behind, everybody knows where I stand on work sessions. I think they're necessary and needed. I think homework is also necessary and needed, but that thing that these work sessions will give us as a board an opportunity to speak and ask questions and kind of develop what is the best direction for our district as a whole. As far as the topics and things to be discussed on there, you know, somebody made mention of tonight's meeting there's a couple of items on there that I've actually asked be removed from the consent agenda and moved over to this Open Meeting to give people an idea of what's going on. So that you guys would know we're taking these bids and that there was due diligence put into it, we can talk about it. Some of these other items would have been discussed, but unfortunately, we as a board haven't had a whole lot of opportunity to discuss it. I know there's some safety items that have been brought up, which are excellent, and I think that we're going to move in that direction. Matter of fact, we voted on that. But it'd be nice to have a work session where we could discuss some of these things.

Ted Bryson -
"Are we going to discuss it all?"

Josh Taylor -
"I think anything that warrants discussion, and I don't know if that is too different. I don't think it's necessarily two different, totally different agendas. I think we have an agenda of what we're going to talk about and an agenda what we're going to vote on. We started this meeting this evening at about 530. I think if we'd had a workstation for about an hour,  then a voting session, there would have been an opportunity to discuss all of these things, which could have reduced the time of this meeting. And also, there are a lot of people that come in and brag a lot about our district. I mean, we had a state championship archery team, Arlette Robertson came and presented. This gives us more opportunity to give these folks time to come in and tell the good things that they're doing, and that's to recognize them. Again, it's just another opportunity to further what we're already doing. I think somebody has already said it, but, as a board, I think we are united, we all have the same goal, we want to see good things for our district. And I think part of seeing those good things, and that due diligence, is instituting a work session on a regular basis."

Chairman Lee - 
"But again, just to reiterate, you're saying that, sharing the good news, that is going to Dr. Cash require these people to come in again, on their time off to do that, which I feel like they work long and hard enough for us to require them to come in on another day when we just can't have it all on one day. I think it's just a disservice to the employees who put in enough time to do that."

Nancy Casson -
"This is like tonight's agenda here. And you've asked for three things to be pulled off , so we look at those. It's our obligation, I think, to table something we don't understand. Okay, then if we table that, then I think that we should have a work session. Prior to our next meeting, which is the second Thursday of every month. We go ahead and schedule a work session for the first Thursday of every month. Whatever we table here tonight, if we table anything, then we have a work session regarding those items that we questioned and those things that we need to understand. If there's nothing, then I don't see that we need to have a work session, if there's nothing to work on. But I think that we have, it's my responsibility as a board member is to look at all of this, and question and ask things. I know several months ago, we had a situation that came up when we voted on something and after we all left the board meeting, then we all said we're not really sure what we voted on. That was our mistake. We should have tabled that motion right then, and had a work session concerning that. But I personally, now be there, if you want me there, but I personally don't think that every month we need a work session. I think after every regular board meeting, like tonight, if there's anything that we table or anything that we need further discussion on, we go ahead and schedule that for the first Thursday night. Then, discuss that. In the second Thursday night in May, is a voting session and we vote."

Ted Bryson - 
"If I want to have work session, I'll just table something."

Nancy Casson - 
"That's right."

Josh Taylor - 
"All right. I'm asking that just for a regular scheduled. You know, we've got one scheduled for May and somebody made mention of, but that's on a Wednesday evening. Many of us have already had to realign some scheduling to be able to attend that meeting. And so I'm asking for just a regular option. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the board reserves the right to cancel a meeting. We canceled actual board voting or regular meetings before already, and we want to preserve that right. So we would still have that right. But I'm not asking for unnecessary meetings by any means, but I am asking for a regular work session."

Ted Bryson -
"Okay. On the work session, you won't have work session on the four bids? I'm just asking. "

Josh Taylor - 
"No. I mean, I can answer your question. I think most of this has already been addressed. But, it would be nice if we had more of an opportunity with Mr. Webb to discuss some of these safety things to see if there's any other companies or anything that offers it, to kind of show us, maybe give us a demonstration of how some of this works, and we would have had an opportunity to kind of ask some more those questions instead of just moving strictly straightforward with it. I'm not saying that it's not necessary, I'm just using that as an example. These general purpose budget amendments, it gives us an opportunity to talk about those and discuss them a little more in depth, or see if we've got questions on them. I know Susan does a great job. I appreciate all that she's done, and how she's answered questions this evening. But sometimes, there are more questions, and we all want to go home too. There's more questions, and what we feel that there's maybe time to answer, the last thing I want to do is cause embarrassment or put her on the spot. And some of these I know that she may not have the answer right in front of her. If we're in a work session, that gives us more opportunity to ask those questions freely. And not only me as an individual, but as a board."

Ted Bryson - 
"You want to take time, but you don't want to take time tonight to do it, but you won't have another day to do it. It is hard to get some of these people here."

Chairman Lee - 
"That's one of my questions. is because it's very hard for us. I mean, we have a lot of meetings now that we have to reschedule, because we all can't be here."

Josh Taylor - 
"So, if we had a regular set scheduled meetings, I don't think it would be quite so hard to have to reschedule its responsibility. We know that it's there. We know what's expected. We know our timeframes. And we're not having to adjust anything that's already on the on the book."

Nancy Casson -
"My suggestion would be that we go ahead and establish the first Thursday of each month to be a work session, if it's needed. And that work session would be for, like tonight's meeting, Maranda, Dr. Cash, Susan, anybody else would have from tonight until the first Thursday night of the next month to get the agenda items, the information that we want to discuss at the work session. If nothing happens tonight that we need to carry over to a work session, then we don't have to utilize that first Thursday. But I think to have it the week before would be great. They'd be fresh on our mind would also give Dr. Cash Maranda, Susan, anybody else that needs to report, you give you our extra weeks to get that done and get ready for the workstation. That would be my suggestion. I'm not making that form of motion, but I will. "

Vicki Beaty -
"And, you are not saying have a work session every month?"

Nancy Casson - 
"Specific items that we either tabled to that? Or, that we say oh, you know, we don't really understand. We have work session."

Chairman Lee - 
"One more thing to to Ms. Casson's point. And this will be a question for Dr. Cash. I agree with what Nancy is saying, and I don't have a problem with that. My only concern with that would be, say, for instance, in May if we have, it's the budget. If you want to table something, then we have a deadline that we have to get the budget to the commission, so if there is something where we have a deadline, and it can't be tabled till the next meeting, it may not be able to be tabled to the next meeting."

Josh Taylor -
"But we would still reserve the right to alter that calendar, as we've already done in the past."

Vicki Beaty -
"And I do agree with you, because school safety is huge to me. So when I saw school pass, I called three different people, and I Googled it, and I got all of this information. I talked with school system personnel at the schools where it was going to be located, and as a part of doing that, I became really excited about the opportunities that it gives us."

Josh Taylor - 
"The ones that I looked into offers Halo monitoring. I don't know if this company does or not, but it detects vaping in bathrooms and things. So I mean, there's a lot of advantage to these systems."

Chairman Lee - 
"I guess it's whether some people do their calling before, and some people want to do it during the meeting. That that's kind of the consensus that I'm getting."

Ted Bryson -
"Does anybody have a motion?"

Josh Taylor -
"I'm making a motion that we institute regular work sessions on the first Thursday of the month at 530. With our regular voting session on the second Thursday of the month at 530. I'd like to have those times reserved for those meetings."

Chairman Lee - 
"I have a motion. We need to get a second and then we'll open it for discussion. "

Rachel Goins - 
"Second."

Mr. Bryson - 
"Are we gonna do this agenda? And is Maranda going to have this agenda to us a week ahead of time again?"

Dr. Cash - 
"Madam Chair, May I? In listening to the board, I do think you've got some time-sensitive things that you have to look at. And what Ms. Casson is suggesting is that the items that would be pulled from an agenda would need more discussion, which would give time for my staff to do the work that needed to be done, It would be very difficult for us to have the agenda ready the prior Thursday, and then turn around and have a work session. Because we are collecting items, we're doing as much of our due diligence as we can, but if there is something in particular that needs to be pushed, if it's not time sensitive, it could be a discussion for the next one. It is extremely difficult to have a work session, if it's time sensitive. If it's something that needed more discussion, it could roll or, you know, depending on what the board wanted to do. But having your board sessions already scheduled, your board work sessions do reserve that time. If you need it, you use it. If you don't need it, then like Mr. Taylor said, that would be one that we could cancel. But I do think it would be very difficult for us to have, like on this board agenda, there would be some things that you know, would be very easy to discuss. But on the other hand, there are some things that we could not pull together that quickly, so I think you'd have to work with us on what would be on that work session agenda."

Mr. Bryson - 
"Can one board member say we are going to have a work session or should it be a majority? Josh is right, there are things, there's a lot of things, that need a work sesson.  But most things, even the question I think we got tonight, could be dealt with tonight. I think you could even start to bring this back to the next for information about that School Pass."

Josh Taylor - 
"Isn't the agendas created by our executive committee, our Chair, Vice Chair and director?

Dr. Cash -
Yes, sir.

Josh Taylor -
"Okay, so just the chair and the director. It is not being so much reactive, but proactive. So I think we may be looking at creating these agendas backwards. What I'm talking about is having the agenda, looking at it, seeing what stuff we need to discuss, snd then basically using that same agenda, same template, when we come back in for a voting session to simply vote on it. Does that answer your question?"

Ted Bryson - 
"If I was a tax payer and I came to the meeting, I would want to hear the discussion. But I can't come to two meetings, because I work and I have children. When I vote on it, I want to hear the people come tell me why they want it. I didn't get to come to your work session."

Josh Taylor - 
"All of these meetings will be, I mean by Sunshine Law, they have to be broadcast. They have to be public meetings, everybody is welcome. Questions can still be asked on the voting session. It's not that you can't discuss, they can still be asked, but it gives others inside the district and inside the central office, time to answer those questions without being put on the spot."

Nancy Casson - 
"You're kind of going backwards from what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, tonight's meeting, here it is right here in front of you, you have asked us to take three things out of the consent agenda. Okay, that's fine. We discussed those a little bit, and we have questions about them. Okay, so next month, on the first Thursday in May, that's what our work session is about, those things that we taken off. We're not going to have a work session about the next school meeting, we're going to have a work session about what we take off of tonight's agenda that we need to work on before we can vote on it."

Chairman Lee - 
"Ms. Casson and I don't think that's what Mr. Taylor's motion was."

Nancy Casson - 
"That's what I'm thinking too. I'm thinking we've got the the cart before the horse here. And I'm not sure that needs to be that way. That's just my opinion. I just think that the work session needs to be things that are brought, just like the contract we were talking about. We left here going, "What did we just do?" What we should have done was, I should have done was table that motion that night. Then the next week before our next school board meeting, had a worked session concerning that."

Josh Taylor - 
"But my thought on it is this, Nancy. Instead of seeing that contract for the first time and having to vote on it or having to table it and have it in a work session where we can talk about it. When it does come up for a vote, there ain't nothing to table, and there isn't anything that we need to discuss, unless somebody has a general question. We've seen it ahead of time, so it's accomplishing the same thing. It's just front."
 

Discussion: 




                                                                      
Amanda Lee, Chairman



                                                                      
Dr. Linda Cash, Director of Schools