This week, the Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen and the School Board have swapped nights… The Collierville School Board has both a working session and a special called meeting on the docket.
My summary and observations from the meeting tonight:
Mrs Messerly was absent, CS staff was well represented. Only a few members of the public were in attendance.
Tonight’s working session saw some new and a few previously approved policies brought back for revision, based on changes in TN law. Policies covered in this session were a policy on sex offenders, placement of AED devices in schools, insurance management, separation policies for tenured and non-tenured teachers, attendance, student surveys and student records. In the personal communication device policy, an addition was made for wearable technology.
Most discussion took place around interscholastic athletics. The proposed policy is fairly short, and focuses on school representation, payment to coaches, and participant insurance. Mr Vaughan, himself the parent of two varsity athletes, wanted to ensure the school system would aspire to improve upon things he has observed and found less than ideal in the recent past. None of these are items that would have been addressed with this particular policy, so the policy should move forward at this time. Mr Aitken assured the board that he was aware of opportunities, and his office would be in a position to help improve matters. Mr Hansen added that openness will be key.
In the Superintendent’s update, Mr Aitken highlighted three key dates for the school district:
- July 27 4-6pm open house to celebrate the new school system, at the central office
- August 1 teacher appreciation event hosted by the Collierville Education Foundation
- July 29 registration day
Mr Aitken also provided some key points from the biweekly shared services update newsletter, which listed updates on all the shared services efforts across the municipal districts. Things are on track, communication and cooperation are going very well.
Mr Hansen, in the chairman’s update, complimented the school staff on the amount of work being completed for the upcoming school year, including the completion of 6 new hire orientation sessions so far.
Mr Simpson, the consultant provided several logistical updates. The process to develop a 5-year Capital Improvement Plan is moving forward, with the committee having its first meeting on June 12, where they set goals and objectives, and received an update from the school planner. This committee has members from the various stakeholder groups across the community, including the school system and the BMA, as well as a parental representative and city planners. Their next meeting is July 17.
Mr Simpson also discussed the process for the architectural and engineering firms and their statements of qualifications. 13 firms will be providing presentations for himself and Mr Vaughan over the next couple of weeks.
The final update from Mr Simpson was around the condition of school facilities and maintenance on them. Parking lot work is being done where needed, and the town is providing a lot of help with this.
In his closing remarks, Mr Hansen highlighted the importance of having the town planning efforts and the school district’s long-term plan working closely to ensure responsible growth remains positive.
Immediately following the working session, the school board moved into a special called meeting in order to vote on several proposals. Nobody from the public addressed the board today.
The first proposal was the annual approval of special courses, which, today, was to ensure 5 special courses would continue to be offered, including one honors English class and two ACT prep classes. Approved.
The second item was the approval of the proposed contract with Kelly Services to provide substitute teachers to Collierville Schools. Key items to note:
- This is the model most municipal districts are following
- This is the same provider already in use for DeSoto Schools in Mississippi
- Principals will be able to provide lists of preferred subs for their schools, and named subs can be requested for specific classes
- Long-term subs can be converted to district employees, or can be retained long-term through Kelly Services
- This model is preferred because of the amount of logistics involved in attracting, retaining, and managing a substitute teacher base, including, new this year, rules around the affordable care act for employees who work 30 hours a week or more
- In the 2012-2013 school year, the 8 Collierville schools had 2819 teacher days of absence. Detailed figures for last year are not available.
Approved.
Item 3 is a contract with Durham Transportation for the school buses. This contract is close to final, and the board is asked to authorize the superintendent and school board chair (Executive Committee) to engage in a contract with Durham for 4 years. Collierville is managing transportation for all 6 municipalities. 34 regular buses will be needed for Collierville. By the end of the 4 year term, all buses will be airconditioned. Route planning is advancing very well (somewhat ahead of schedule). After some additional discussion, the board provided its authorization.
Next up – a three year lease arrangement for 600 laptops from Apple for just over $700k for the duration of the lease will be entered into by the town of Collierville. The school board is not able to enter into a capital lease like that, but will be paying the town for this. Approved.
The final item up for a vote this evening was the detail around the health care plans. Three contracts are to be entered into to provide for health care plan administration, trust fund management and a healthcare administration agreement among the participating groups. The health care plan will be administered by Meritain, an Aetna company. These contracts are to be in place by July 1, which is when school admin and central office personnel will fall under that plan.