Summary of the August 13 Collierville School Board work session.
This is Dr Lilly’s first board meeting since assuming the Superintendent role on July 1. Full board is present.
Review of June and July Financial Statements.
Dr Lilly walked through some details of revenues and expenditures, highlighting some items of interest.
Policy Updates:
- meeting minutes policy (to allow for electronic distribution vs physical mailing)
- new video surveillance policy; limited access available in open records requests. Will need subpoena for public distribution. Only 10 days of data will be routinely retained
- testing programs policy – replaces old policy with updated TSBA model policy. This addresses some of the legislative changes and brings the policy back into compliance with state law
- policy around test and data security – change to align with legislative updates to allow internal sharing of data with select personnel during the embargo period
- policy around bus safety and conduct – another legislative driven update focused on video surveillance captured on board buses; contractual obligations make Durham responsible for video data, and Collierville Schools is limited in what it can compel the vendor to produce, which will limit the applicability of the state law on the topic; Mrs Chism asked if bus video requests are common, and Mr Dougherty confirmed that it is
- policy around students of military families – new model policy from TSBA, accommodates residency requirements for new military families moving into the district
RFP of Educational Software – assessment tool based on standards – used in previous year, RFP needed due to expense level
Superintendent’s Update
- Yesterday was first day of school. Thanks to board members who visited schools. Very successful first day.
- Collierville Elementary was a last minute push
- Enrollment number was 8768 on first day vs 8786 last year on day one. This is an approximate 300 student lag below projections. Suspected to be mostly due to freezing transfers. This will result to some teacher moves, which is something that is always avoided if possible.
- Due to start new strategic plan cycle this year. Proposal made available to the board to use a consultant who will develop ‘portrait of a graduate’ which collects and documents aspirational goals from all community stakeholders and serves to inform the strategic planning process. Consultant could be funded out of existing grant funds; Mr Hansen spoke in favor of this initiative
- Proposed review of landscaping work… Trees around CHS will be reviewed for removal vs preservation, tree planting efforts, etc. This is partially in response to Mr Vaughan’s request to consider significant landscaping improvements to highlight our high school
Chairman’s Update
- Schools looked great on the first day of school. Encouragement to all the school administration as the core of our schools.
- Gave the floor to Mrs Willis, who represents the Collierville Education Association. Echoed the great state the schools are in. Acknowledged the excitement of new school year, but wanted to advocate for the teachers who are facing last minute staff cuts and reassignments. Also wanted to point out that apparent $7000 central office pay raises over the summer would have equaled double digit increases compared to the 2% increases the teachers got for cost of living. Mrs Willis urged the board and administration to keep students in mind in relation to teacher changes and reassignments, class sizes, etc.
Meeting adjourned.