Today’s meeting was moved up a day and hosted at the Collierville Schools Central Office. Public attendance was high at the start of the meeting due to the Collierville Middle School presentations on the agenda.
There were no comments from the public.
The first special presentation was by the Collierville Arts Council. In the spring they organized a special event around the Suessical musical, and had a competition of Cat in the Hat art among the many classes that participated. Two winning works of art were framed and presented to the Board for display in the central office. For next spring, a similar event will be held for the Wizard of Oz.
The second special presentation had Principal Jones from CMS introduce several members of the pom squad to the board. Mr Jones highlighted some of the recent accomplishments of the squad, which is going to the state competition this coming weekend, and already has a bid to nationals in Orlando later in the year. The second part of the presentation was where Mr Jones had three award winning student artists present their work to the board for review. These all won prizes at the recent competition at Briarcrest, and most also won prizes at the fair.
The first item on the formal agenda is the approval of the monthly financial statements. Up for review and approval at this meeting are the September financials. In response to Mr. Hansen’s question on how the district is doing financially, Mr Aitken stated Collierville Schools are doing well financially. They have not yet needed to take the town up on the line of credit that was made available. This was helped by the fact that some property and sales tax revenues came in early. The state’s BEP adjustment for attendance numbers was delayed a little and will use November 15 attendance numbers. No major adjustment is expected. Overall, startup costs were a major concern, but it has all gone well.
The financial statement for Septermber is approved, and will be posted online soon, in the same location where the previous months are posted.
The chairman’s report touches upon the recent opportunities the board has had to attend school functions, and the positive experiences those visits afford. Also, various state rankings, including for ACT scores, are showing Collierville near the top of state rankings. Seniors are reporting a lot of scholarship offers and feel very well prepared for college life.
The superintendent’s report is extensive:
- The TSBA convention in Nashville is this weekend and will be attended by board members
- On December 1, at the Harrell Theater, reelected board members Messerly and Chism will be sworn in. This will be following the Collierville Elementary spelling bee in that location.
- In accordance with State Law, the process which will lead to adoption of a mathematics text book has begun. This process will start in December with the presentation of selected teacher and parent members for the Local Textbook Selection Committee to the board for approval. In January through March, the state prescribed process will lead the committee through the steps for selection, and in March the board will formally adopt a textbook for mathematics.
In response to a question from Mr Hansen about the possibility of state educational standards being in flux, Mr Aitken deferred to Dr Crafford, who affirmed the state requirement to go through the process even though standards may change. Ms Claney added that while a text book has to be adopted, it does not have to be purchased.
Part of the comments on state standards included some comments by Mr Aitken. The name ‘common core’ is likely to end with the next legislative session, but a Tennessee State Standard will be in place. Mr Hansen added that he hopes the legislature will come to a decision on this early in the next session.
Also of note: the governor has opened up a website to collect public feedback on educational standards. - An update on transportation is next.
In light of recent news about issues with SCS bus drivers the following points are made:
- Ms Rike meets with Durham at least weekly
- There are a lot of positives about the transportation arrangements for the municipalities, and those need some highlighting also. A lot of drivers in the municipalities are the same drivers who have been driving the routes for many years.
- Most of the assurances made to SCS by Durham were either already in place for the municipal transportation contract, or are being extended to the municipalities, including the rescreening of existing drivers.
- The 6 municipal superintendents are meeting with Durham executives this week.
- Main areas of concern are recruitment and retention of drivers. Of 139 routes, only 11 currently have out of town drivers. This compares to 68 out of town drivers at the start of the school year.
- The transportation department is looking into the future and exploring options to bring transportation in-house. This will come with significant start up cost. For example a single new bus will cost upwards of $104,000.
- In reference to the Andy Wise reporting on WMCTV5, the comment was made that ‘not all information provided finds itself on air.’
- Finally in response to a question from Mr. Vaughan, Ms Rike stated that in the time after the first two weeks of operation, there have been no significant issues or complaints about transportation in Collierville. There has been one accident, which involved a resident at fault. - Thanks for the various veterans’ day events board members attended across town.
- The capital planning process is under way, and the December board meeting should include an update of the plans. Mr Hansen adds that he has had some informational talks with the town Mayor and administrator, and they are very receptive to the needs of the school district and have faith in the board and administration in place.
- The board self-evaluation process is beginning.
- Finally, a district emergency response plan is being provided to the state. Due to the sensitive nature of some of the information, the board will meet in executive session, probably at the start of the next meeting.
In other agenda items, a memorandum of agreement for evaluation of the superintendent was approved.
The final item on the agenda is a capital improvement agreement with Shelby County and Shelby County Schools. This will allow for $1M in reroofing for Collierville High School. These are 2013-2014 funds. The current year funds are being determined, and an average daily attendance (ADA) share will be made available to all municipal districts.