February 11, 2025 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion:  In attendance:  Dr. Trey Duke, Sheri Arnette, Maria Johnson, Ken Rocha, Daniel Owens, Don Bartch, Angela Fairchild, Lisa Trail, Andrea Oakley, and Robin Newell, April Zavisa, and Andy Taylor

Assistant City Attorney Lauren Bush.  City Liaison Bill Shacklett was absent.

Discussion:  The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Ms. Sheri Arnette, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction.

Discussion:  During the moment of silence, Chair Campbell asked that everyone remember Lisa VanCleave as she had traveled to Vanderbilt hospital to support her family.

Discussion:  Lisa Trail shared a sample backpack of the food items that go home with students each week and shared the food drive for mac and cheese.

Discussion:  Mr. Bartch gave the Board an update on 910 Ridgely Road property and said that we should be closing on this property late March. 
The Board had a drawing of the building and the departments that will be in each area of the building. He explained that the backpack food program will be located at this facility.  He explained where the transportation department will be located as well as transportation and maintenance offices. 

Dr. Duke then explained that there is a space that the city will be using as offices as well (10% of the building).  He added that there is  warehouse space that is currently not programmed out. He said that at this time, in our Board policy, we can't lease space, but he asked the Board to consider changing our policy to allow us to lease this non-educational space to a non-profit organization that has a partnership with us. He said  that he would have follow-up conversations with the Board on this because we have partners that have reached out to us to discuss that possibility. Dr. Duke said that this will require a policy change.

Chair Campbell asked if there were any plans for parking lot improvements.  Mr. Bartch said that at this time, there are no plans to do anything with that.  He said that there are some maintenance issues in the back of the building that have to be corrected first.  Dr. Duke said that we did allow some money in the budget to make some minor improvements, furniture, and fixtures, and that budget amendment would be coming before the Board possibly in March.

Ms. Long asked about a timetable for renovations. Mr. Bartch said that the big item would be technology, and once that is completed, we could start moving in the building. 

Chair Campbell said that this seems like a dream come true. Mr. Bartch said that he has a system for surplus property to be stored there as well.

Ms. Moore asked about plans for the Family Resource Center being located at this building and how that would work.  Lisa Trail explained that this will be a central location where all items that families need will be stored as well as indigent care items, and social workers will have access to them, but this would not be open to the public. Dr. Duke added that this will keep our social workers from having to go to several different locations to gather items for families. 

Discussion:  Mrs. Arnette reviewed our current policy on library materials and how they end up in the library.

Mrs. Arnette said that she and Ms. Lauren Bush are planning to train the librarians this Friday and take a deep dive into policy 4.403 and AD 4.403.1. She wants to make sure that the librarians are clear on that policy, as well as 4.4001, which will cover selection of materials other than textbooks. She said that Ms. Bush will also cover the Age Appropriate Materials Act.

Chair Campbell asked how people can get a list of what library books are at each school. Dr. Duke explained that all of our library collections are online for the public to access. Dr. Duke added that there are groups that are looking at library collections in our schools. Dr. Duke said that another question that came up was who has the responsibility to order library books, and he said that that is the job of the librarian, who has the degree in library science.  He added that the training on Friday would be a refresher training to make sure that librarians understand all policies as well as how to handle challenges. He said that we have a process for challenging books and that is a very good thing because we are a community with diverse families.

Ms. Long asked if our librarians need more support.  Mrs. Arnette said she feels that the librarians do a very good job, but she just plans to go back and reiterate that they know their collection.  Mr. Campbell asked if there could be a situation where a librarian would buy books in bulk and not know what each book was nor have the time to process each book. Mrs. Arnette said that yes, that could be a possibility, but there is no time limit on processing the books, unless they were opening a library, and she feels that they do take their time with that task.  Mrs. Arnette add that every year, librarians do an inventory of their books and if there are books that have not been checked out over a long period of time, they do weed those books out.  Mr. Richardson asked if the book that was challenged had ever been checked out and Mrs. Arnette said no, it had not been. He asked if it would have been removed at the end of the year.  Ms. Bush said that we do not have a specific time in policy that they would weed a book out, but if a book has not gotten enough interest over the time that it's in the library, it would be removed during inventory.

Discussion:  Dr. Duke said that Mr. Settles asked at the retreat about federal funds, so he put together a one-page document explaining the programs and how the funds are spent, along with the allocation that we received this year. Dr. Duke also listed the number of staff that are paid out of the federal funds. The Board was provided that page at their desks. He reviewed that page with the Board.  He added that if we lost federal funds, the impact would be on staff. He said that if that happened, the Board would have to decide which of these additional positions would we have to fit into our GP budget and what effect would it have on that budget.

Ms. Moore thanked Dr. Duke for providing that information.  She said that she did have someone approach her that was concerned because he position is listed on that page. 

David Settles said that the new administration is looking at all departments and they will be looking at the Department of Education next. He was worried about the translators.  He said that he wanted to put it on everyone's radar because those are people that serve our children.

Karen Dodd asked to come back to the library book discussion.  She said that she felt that number 4 on policy 4.403, should have a little more meat to it because it states that the collection as a whole should offer a variety of viewpoints. She feels that statement is very broad. She asked if this statement could be changed to narrow it down. Ms. Bush explained that the language is coming from a model TSBA policy, but she said that she could work on language.  David Settles said that he felt the statement needed to remain and ultimately Ms. Dodd agreed.

Jeanette Price wanted to clarify that this training that is happening with librarians is not to discourage them from purchasing certain books, but to educate them on the books that they choose so that they can stand behind their decision for purchasing them. Ms. Bush said that the theme for this training is the Legal Landscape for School Librarians and would be discussing where our policy comes from and how it is all derived from state law. 

Dr. Duke finished his update by adding that the Legislative Session is going on and the filing deadline has passed.  He said that there are about 288 educational bills that he'll be watching.

He said that the Governor's State of the Schools was last night and he does have additional educational funding, but Dr. Duke has not seen a breakdown of that funding.  He does talk about a 3% increase for teacher pay raises which would take the base pay to $47,000.00 and his goal, by the end of his term, is $50,000.00. He reminded the Board that we are already at $50,000.00 which is good comparison with surrounding districts.

One thing that Dr. Duke said that we will have to have conversation about during the budget session is the fact that the voucher bill did pass and one of the parts of that was the $2000.00 bonus for teachers. He said that he has a meeting with the state on Tuesday and will be in Nashville with Superintendents to hopefully get more details but he knows that the Board will have to pass a resolution, not in support of the voucher bill, but to accept the funds for the bonuses. Dr. Duke said that we will draft a resolution for the Board to consider unless that's not the will of the Board.  The resolution will need to be completed by June 1. Dr. Duke asked that they not consider a resolution until he gets clarity on who it includes, who it does not include, and what the Board's direction is.

Ms. Long added that she and Ms. Dodd attended the Legislative and Legal Institute and they learned that in that resolution, we can still state our opposition to the voucher bill.

Dr. Duke said that he will be in Nashville the next two days and will keep the Board updated on the things he learns as well.
 

Discussion:  The meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m.