Summary of the October 22, 2019 Business Meeting for Collierville Schools Board of Education.

Mrs Chism absent.

Special Recognitions:

• STEM at Bailey Station
• CHS National Merit Semi-finalists
• CHS National Merit Commended Scholars

No Public Comments

Approval of Agenda, financial statements for September, and previous meeting’s minutes – all approved

Chairman’s report:

• Congratulations to the girls’ volleyball team who beat Cleveland today, and are facing Brentwood this evening.
• Annual school board association meeting and OPEB trustees meeting coming up.
• Excited to get the Battelle for Kids strategic plan activities started.

Superintendent’s Report:

• Good to be back from fall break.
• Congratulations to the National Merit Commended and Semi-Finalist students
• West CMS has now also achieved the Apple Distinguished School designation
• Athletic Fields have been subject of questions from the public. Field progress not where it should be, and operations and legal counsel are working on them. Update from Mr Dougherty: Contractors and Collierville Schools met and contractors are working with construction managers and contractors to address soccer field issues, baseball field issues are being addressed, including the misaligned bases and foul pole, and the off-center ‘champions wall.’ Stadium lights are now working properly after new wiring. Priority on making all fields safe and operational by spring seasons. Practice fields are lagging behind these.

Additional Item from the Chairman about the school board opening. October 29 4pm working session scheduled by Board of Mayor and Aldermen at Town Hall to review initial list of 30 candidates. Meeting is open to the public.

Business Items:

• 2019 LEA Compliance Report
• January-June 2020 Board Calendar change. Recommendation to move the work session meetings to be only one week prior to the business meeting, and also to move them to 4pm. Discussion affirmed that this schedule change will make these meetings more convenient for staff to attend, which should outweigh any inconvenience to members from the public who might want to attend during their job’s regular business hours. The meetings will also move to the central office, which should see its construction effort be completed by then.
• Approval of Studio/Broadcast Equipment RFP. This will install commercial-grade equipment that is on par with what is found in professional TV/News studios. Equipment will include the ability to broadcast within the school building, as well as a remote studio for live streaming from location. Funding will be from various sources, including a grant made possible through a partnership for dual enrollment with UT Martin. Mr Warren asked if the broadcast in the building would consume wifi bandwidth, but was assured this would be a wired connection.
• Approval of school board calendar policy to remove reference to work sessions to more closely follow the TSBA model policy and rewords the language around regularly scheduled meetings to incorporate increased flexibility.

Meeting Adjourned.

Tags: Citizen's Report, Collierville Schools

Summary of the October 8, 2019 work session of the Collierville Schools Board of Education.

Full board in attendance.

Review of 2019 LEA Compliance Report – annual requirement to perform self-assessment. Currently missing the ‘In God We Trust’ signs that the TN Legislature mandated to be placed in all schools in 2018. Related question by Mrs Chism – do we have American Flags in every classroom at the high school? Mr Jeff Jones indicates there are not at this time. Mr Vaughan can arrange to have those donated, but the district will still need to provide the hardware for the flags.

Review of fee schedule for use of school facilities. Updated list to reflect additional facilities and amenities available, and improved pricing schedule to have 2 tiers: program partners plus non-profits and private persons/organizations. A facility use calculator was used to determine fees. Mr Vaughan suggested these rates be adjusted upwards. Note: personnel cost would be charged in addition to the hourly fees charged. Most use is for school organizations (at no charge) and non-profits. Mr Vaughan is concerned with the potential of these low rates attracting too much traffic, which will create additional overhead for a non-core activity. Preference will be for youth and education related events, rather than commercial use.

January-June 2020 board meeting calendar. Dr Lilly wants to make the work sessions more informal, and hosted in the Central Office conference room, perhaps in the afternoon rather than the evening. Also looking to have them be separated from the business meetings by only a week.

Review of monthly financial reports for September – due to short turnaround (it is only the 8th day of October today), these are not yet ready for review, but will be at the time of the business meeting.

Review of Studio/Broadcast equipment RFP. Grant funds are available in partnership with UT Martin. Tight timelines. Professional equipment will include remote studio, broadcast capabilities inside the classrooms, studio set, lighting, etc. Cost will be in excess of $350,000.

Superintendent Update:

• Strategic Plan development update. Additional vendor has been identified, and a selection committee was made up of key central office personnel. Based on full review it was determined Battelle for Kids has better focus and processes to develop the plan vs the alternate vendor who’s more focused on the accountability after the plan is developed.
• Saturday evening 10/5 was Tournament of Champions hosted at CHS – great event.
• Fall break next week – offices will be closed Thursday and Friday

Chairman’s Update:

• TSBA Board Chairman workshop last week. Opportunity exists to promote public education across the state to help improve the negative view of public education that exists in formal and informal areas of state leadership. Need to consider ourselves ambassadors of public education, not just of our own district. Mr Hansen would like to have a component of this included in the new strategic plan.
• Mr Hansen also attended the Collierville BMA work session where the process to select an appointment to replace Mr Vaughan was discussed and determined. Some of the BMA expressed possibly focusing on a candidate who would NOT be interested in running for reelection at the end of the term. Mr Hansen believes he was able to dissuade them from that idea. Mayor Joyner has pledged to keep the School Board in the loop on candidates for the position, and to solicit feedback.

Meeting adjourned.

Tags: Citizen's Report, Collierville Schools