Summary of the June 10 Board Meeting, from my notes and observations.

Board member Cox was not in attendance. Low attendance from the public, but approximately a dozen Collierville Schools staff were present.

There were no public comments.

At the request of Mr. Vaughan, the proposed policy on Interscholastic Athletics was removed from the agenda for further discussion at a later time.

In the Chairman’s report, Mr. Hansen touched upon the June 9 Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting where they reviewed the town budget with the school budget included. The inclusion of the school system doubled the overall town budget. The BMA responded favorably to the budget, and also notified the school system that $5M in an advance has been made available to allow for seamless transition until the August 15 first payment from the State. Mr. Hansen also discussed the move into the Central Office. While there are some minor logistical items to address, the move has been completed successfully, and the Board expresses its gratitude to all the Town personnel that have made the past 6 months as smooth as possible.

The Superintendent’s update covered the hiring of Mr. Roger Jones at Collierville Middle, the logistics of the move into the central office and the fact that the agreement with Durham Transportation should be finalized any day now.
Mr Aitken also performed the reading into the record of certain federal funding details, as required by federal law. This essentially covered the Title I funding for Collierville Elementary and Sycamore Elementary ($606k), the Title IIA funding for all 8 schools ($285k) and the Title III funding ($25k) for English Language Learners (ESL).

Mr. Hansen asked about the Request for Qualifications for architects and engineers, and was informed that a list of qualified firms is being compiled from which the school district will be able to choose.

Mr. Simpson’s consultant update – he highlighted the central office hours of operation (7-5 daily).The other update revolved around the work that has been put into motion to create a 5-year capital improvement plan. This is a plan that is taking inputs from all areas of the school district, and reviewing the state and utilization of each facility. The plan will be presented to the board when finished, and will be updated annually after that. A committee with representatives from all major departments of the school district, as well as the town, parental representation and a board member will be involved in this plan.

Mr. Hansen asked if the transportation contract delays are holding things up from a planning and preparation perspective. Mr. Simpson replied that the routing and planning activities are progressing, and are independent from the selection of the provider. Mr Hansen also asked if the facility handoffs were smooth – which they were, with nothing extraordinary as exceptions. Finally, Mr Hansen wanted to know if there were any significant repairs to be completed at this time, and there were no major ones to discuss. The high school roof will not be done until the end of the next school year. Mr Vaughan asked about high school parking lot paving – and was informed by Mr. Aitken that something is being worked out with the town in that area.

The next agenda item covered the updates to the policy items that were covered as first reading at the May 27 working session. All updates were cosmetic to reflect typos and minor textual refinements, and one legislative update that needed to be made. Following a quick walkthrough of the changes only, the board suspended the rules and approved all the policy items up for discussion.

Mr. Vaughan made a statement that these policies may seem strange at times, but are almost exclusively mandated to be put in place by state law. “Check the cross references for the laws that govern this”

The next agenda item is the budget. It has had minor adjustments since the last presentation, and these were to address an adjustment in the state enrollment estimate (up a little) and the reduction in staffing estimates from 711 to 704. The total budget is in excess of $61M, and is a balanced budget. The total budget calls for 443 teachers, which is an increase of 17 over the count for last year. (Ms Chism pointed out that in addition of these 17 new teacher positions, approximately 15 teachers either retired or resigned, and will be replaced).

Mr Aitken mentioned that in an exception, the state has agreed to perform a review of enrollment and make any funding adjustments for the new municipal districts in October, which is normally done at the end of the school year.

Mr Vaughan asked if the transportation vendor (Durham) has any local competitors, and if the contract details to be worked out include pricing. Mr. Aitken clarified that the details are about contract language and stipulations, not pricing.

In the special revenue fund budget (funding from other sources, mostly federal programs), the nutrition budget for Collierville Schools is $2.26M, and the IDEA special education budget is $1.37M.

In a unanimous vote, the budget was passed, which was followed by applause from those in attendance.

The board then moved on the approval of the agreement with the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement fund, which passed.

The final two agenda items covered technology contracts:

• Blackboard Connect – the tool used to robocall and mass text parents about school closures, early dismissals and special messages – $12k
• Microsoft software, including the OS, Office, and the Office 365 online email service. Teachers will have many Gb of space in their cloud storage. Teachers will also be allowed to purchase a full MS Office license for home use for $10. – $32k.

Both of these contracts were approved, and the meeting was adjourned.

Below is my summary of the April 22 school board meeting. This was a working session, where information was provided to the board, but no votes were taken. Immediately following the working session was a special called meeting scheduled to vote on two items that were discussed two weeks ago.

Low attendance in the audience – approximately 12-15, most of whom did not last the whole meeting. The board was fully present, as were a significant staff contingent.

On the agenda today were 63 proposed policies regarding the operation of the school system. Most of these are dictated by law and regulation, and the language is often prescribed by the law. Some highlights:

• Safety, Emergency Preparedness, Security policies. Notable: continued presence of Collierville Police School Resource Officers in each school. As a parent, I am very excited to hear that.
• Community use of school facilities. This has some linkage to state laws.
  - use by non-profits only (including cultural, civic and charitable organizations)
  - school-associated groups have use free of charge
  - use of kitchens will be strictly limited, and most likely require CS employees to run those for a fee
  Intent is to make sure the schools are an integral part of the community, and are open for civic use.
• School naming – not after living persons, but the policy also includes prescriptive language that limits school names around geographic location (street or area). This will get updated to allow the board more freedom. All naming of schools or parts of schools and other facilities has to be approved by the board. The superintendent also removed a reference to avoiding similar names, as there are already some prominent violations of that in town.
• Retirement of facilities – need to add a stipulation that any retirement of facilities considers the settlement agreement with the county and SCS, as unused facilities are to be returned to the county school system.
• Food Service Management – to be run as a non-profit. Any balances owed to be picked up by the school system.
• Student insurance – mostly related to sports activities. Collierville Schools will more proactively stimulate enrollment, rather than parental waivers and assurances of responsibility, as the cost will be low for the families.
• Home schooling – a surprisingly prominent role to be performed by the Collierville Superintendent of Schools to ensure children who are homeschooled are getting this instruction in accordance with TN laws.
• Zero tolerance policies around certain offenses introduce the fact that the superintendent has some case-by-case leaway on deciding what to pursue and what not.
• Dress Code – will be same as current year for 2014-2015. Policy does not have any use of uniforms after the 2014-2015 school year ends, but this policy may get changed by that time.
• Use of personal mobile communication devices (by students) – Default is turned off and stowed in backpack or bag. Teachers may grant permission to students for use that enhances learning. Principals may grant permission outside of those classroom, Intent is to create an environment where teachers have the freedom to make such choices.

Following the walkthrough of these policies, a quick update in TCRS, which is the state retirement plan that current SCS teachers use. Current certified teachers are mandated to retain those benefits and will continue in  the program. Current classified personnel will likely also continue in this plan, but that is as of yet undecided. The Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen will have to accept fiscal responsibility for the teachers that are coming into Collierville Schools, since they are the funding body. Some changes to the TCRS are also under way, which will be addressed in the next regular business meeting.

Finally, Mr Aitken executed a lightning round of updates:

- Funding for some federal and state-level programs will have to be renewed, which Ms Claney is working on with the team.
- Updated funding estimates from the school are coming out higher than foreseen in the feasibility report. This is good news.
- Employee health insurance will be settled by next week based on meetings and presentations this week and next.
- May 6 there will be a joint working session with Collierville Mayor and Aldermen on budget.
- Optional enrollment and transfer application acceptances will start being communicated next week.
- Teacher should get offer letters within the next 2-3 weeks.
- Classified staff will be provided with application procedures by next week on how to apply for jobs at Collierville Schools. By state law, only teachers have job protection.

In closing comments, Mr Aitken expressed his gratitude for all the administrative staff in the school offices and the town offices over the past months. Tomorrow is administrative assistant day, and he recommends it be celebrated.

The chair had limited comments, and the meeting was adjourned.

In the special called meeting, the nutrition services and transportation services interlocal agreements were discussed and voted on. Both passed.

That concludes a three-hour meeting with no breaks…

(my apologies for rushing this summary – it is a late night for me at this point)

A brief summary of the March 25 working session – from my notes and observations. Personal opinions noted as such.

Board member Cox was absent today. Small crowd in attendance, likely a combination of the subject matter on the agenda and the fact that today is the second day of the early enrollment period for Collierville Schools.

On the agenda today is the first reading of 58 proposed policies, all HR-related. The plan is to put these on a consent agenda to be voted on at the next business meeting (April 1). Any items needing further discussion, clarification or changes would not remain on the consent agenda.

Proposed policies outlined all sorts of HR business, from personnel goals, evaluation, leave, termination and communicable disease. Most policies are controlled by law. The TN School Board Association played a crucial role in the development of these for Collierville Schools.

Of note, part of the information and commentary around the policies:

• Application and employment – The district is very close to finalizing the terms around using SearchSoft for applicant entry and tracking.
• Evaluation – teachers will be evaluated by the TEAM model, which is the state model. This is close to what legacy SCS used before the merger added the Bill Gates Foundation metrics.
• The policy on Career Level Educators was withdrawn.
• The policy on Assignment and Transfer of employees outlines that the Superintendent hires all personnel (with input of and recommendation by central office staff and school admin) and assigns them to schools, and the principal then assigns specific assignments within the school.
• There was discussion on the tenure policy, as this has been subject to a lot of legislative change recently. A clarification of the process and the intent will be covered in the business meeting before this policy will be voted on.
• Collierville Schools will have a policy allowing employees to establish a sick bank, similar to the one legacy SCS had. With the merger, the administration abolished the sick bank, forfeiting the balance of days in it. Participation will be voluntary, but will require employees to pay sick days into the balance. Administration will be by an oversight committee, and will be along specific rules. Board member Vaughan asked whether this was considered a desirable perk, given the administrative overhead. Board member Chism (a retired teacher) energetically affirmed that this is a highly valued perk for teachers, and has helped avoid significant financial hardship for those with family health issues.
• In the policy on vacations and holidays, the calculations of days reverts to the way this was done under legacy SCS before the merger. This will be easier to understand and administer than what the mega district uses this year, according to Mr A.
• The policy on drug and alcohol testing focuses on testing in case of suspected abuse. If Collierville Schools maintains its own transportation services, there will likely be a random testing policy for those drivers.

The full list of proposed policies is available on the school board agenda section of the Collierville Schools website.

Finally, before adjourning, a brief superintendent update highlights the successful and well-organized early enrollment process at the schools this week. Positive feedback has been received from parents and staff alike. Mr A has already visited 6 of the 8 schools, and will visit the other two on Thursday during registration. On April 4, he is expecting an initial estimate from the state of its allocation of educational funding, based on the current enrollment numbers.

In answering a question from Mr. Hansen, Mr A updated the board that the state Board of Education has the Collierville Schools LEA packet for both the district and the 8 schools, and they are going through the first pass. In the next few weeks those are expected back and then they will be finalized with CMSD board signatures for formal submission. Approval of this by the State Board will formally establish the school district for the 2014-15 school year.

Finally, approximately 200 non-resident applications have been received through mid-day today. Non-residents have until April 4 to submit their application for this round of enrollment.

Mr Hansen adjourned the meeting.