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Collierville School Board Business Meeting – May 13, 2014 – Citizen’s Report

May 13

Posted by E2Dutch in Rave, Reality Check | No Comments

Regular business meeting of the Collierville School Board. All of the board present, as well as a significant contingent of school and central office staff. Bill Dries from the Daily News was also present (albeit a few minutes late…).

At the start of the meeting, there were two public comments. The first was from a representative from Cigna, who wanted to relate some additional points of information about their response to the RFP. The second comment was from the CEO of Healthchoice, which is an organization that is affiliated with Methodist Health Care managed care, as far as I understood. His comments were in support of Cigna as a health insurance provider.

Following the moment of silence and the pledge of allegiance, Beth Robbins presented the Collierville Highschool Academic Allstars, as recognized by the Commercial Appeal. She also noted that of the 11 overall scholars designated by the CA from the are, 3 are from Collierville High. Mr Hansen congratulated the students, and commended them on being a great example of what Collierville Schools exemplify.

The report from the chairman touched briefly on the interlocal agreements still in progress (with some recent “hiccups”) among the municipalities. Germantown will be voting on a budget on 5/14, which will hopefully include the shared services. Mr Hansen also mentioned the almost completed central office facility, which will be a great place to showcase Collierville Schools. The move-in date is Monday May 19th.

The Superintendent’s report had four quick items:

  • The personnel plan for Collierville Schools has been approved by the State Board of Education
  • The County Commission has approved $1M for capital projects in Collierville, which will primarily be directed to a new roof at Collierville High
  • Job offers for teachers and administrators were delivered this past week
  • Regular meetings have started with SCS around the transition of buildings and personnel over the next few weeks

Mr Simpson, the consultant had an update with more detail about the finishing touches for the central office. Additional updates covered the contracts for services that the school district is still working on, including two later on in the agenda, and the transportation contract as well as others for safety equipment and insurance. Mr Vaughan asked if the bus radius is being changed, to which Mr Simpson replied that in order to most efficiently and economically start services in August, no changes from the current transportation plan were being made. This includes bell times.

The next agenda item was added at the last minute: a presentation on the benefits plans recommended to the board, based on the RFP process that was followed. Karen Naccarato explained the process followed, which included representatives from the municipalities to set out the objectives and perform the RFP process. For health benefits, the options considered were the state plan, full insurance and self insurance. 10 companies provided proposals.

The recommended option is from Aetna, as it came out with the best match of the required features and the cost. Its proposal also will provide for various allowances to allow for change management to ensure a smooth transition. A significant change from the current provider (Cigna, the runner up) is that Aetna offers two network choices: Methodist plus St Francis or Baptist plus St Francis. The employees will have that choice, with the Baptist plan being slightly lower cost.

There was significant discussion around this recommendation, including concern with changing insurance administrators from the current provider, whether this plan provides for the state-mandated level of services, etc. While the employer/employee split is improving from 63/37 to 66/34, it appears the monthly cost will go up slightly for employees. Mr Hansen pointed out that his employer (FedEx) has had major overhaul in its health insurance plans and associated cost, primarily due to the Affordable Care Act, and every employer is facing similar issues.

The board is not yet ready to vote on this, and a vote is not needed until the 23rd of May, so a special called meeting was decided on for one week from today. Mr Vaughan will be unable to attend, but expects consensus among the board.

Metlife Dental, Davis Vision and for basic life insurance, Metlife, are recommended. That maintains the current providers for all those.

Up next, the board considered the policies that were presented three weeks ago at the working session. Mr Aitken pointed out some minor changes that were made, mostly for grammatical reasons. Additionally, the facility use policy was updated to allow use of kitchens, provided under appropriate supervision. The policy on naming of schools and school real estate was simplified based on feedback from the working session. The policy on athletic participation insurance was restated to allow parents to provide for their own insurance or accept the risks of not having insurance if they so choose.

The 63 policies were approved.

Two new policies were presented: first, vacation and holidays, which mostly stipulates the non-teaching personnel policies around vacation and holidays. A key improvement over current policy is to reduce the wait time for the commencement of benefits from 1 year to 6 months. Also, those employed by SCS during the current school year are not considered new employees under this policy, and will thus enjoy the vacation amounts commensurate with their time at SCS. The other new policy is around On-the-job injuries.

Finally, two contracts were up for review and approval:

Both custodial services and maintenance services are recommended to be provided by the current custodial services provider, GCA. For maintenance, SCS currently uses in-house personnel, which may not be economical for a small district. Collierville is proposing to work together with Germantown specifically on this, and the two municipalities will share the use of 11 skilled maintenance personnel, such as plumbers, HVAC technicians, locksmiths, etc. Germantown is expected to vote on, and approve, this arrangement in their meeting on May 14. These both passed.

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Collierville joint School Board and Board of Mayor and Aldermen budget working session – May 6, 2014 – Citizen’s Report

May 6

Posted by E2Dutch in Rave, Reality Check | No Comments

On May 6, the Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BMA) and the Collierville School Board held a joint working session to review the draft budget for the 2014-2015 school year. The Collierville Schools budget is not finalized yet, but is very close to being finished. The BMA needs the preliminary numbers for its budgeting purposes by next week. This post summarizes my observations from today’s meeting, and any editorial comments are clearly identifiable as such below.

The full BMA and School Boards were present, as well as the town administrator, and most of the Collierville Schools senior office staff. The audience was very light.

For most of the meeting, Superintendent Aitken walked the board through the numbers that make up the detailed budget. The budget balances revenues and expenses at this time. The expense side of the budget is based on the projected enrollment number of 7900 students. The revenue side is based on an estimate of 7600 students, which is the number of students in Collierville schools as of April. This is the number the state board has decided to use as the basis for allocation of funds. Per state law, the actual payments out of the county tax and state education funds will be based on actual enrollment numbers, as determined during the school year. In June following the school year, a true up payment will be made as appropriate to account for the difference. It should be noted that in the case where the actual enrollment actually is realized, that June payment could be around $2M at the end of next school year.

There are a few items still under negotiation with vendors, but reasonable estimates have been included in the budget.

The projected total cost for the 2014-2015 school year is $60,695,411. Revenues match this number for a balanced budget. Mr Aitken pointed out that there are approximately $800-900,000 in savings realized through the use of shared services by the participating municipalities. In the current setup, Collierville is responsible for approximately 26% of shared services cost, when allocated on a per-student basis among 6 municipalities. For comparison, Germantown’s share is 19%. Should Germantown opt out of some or all shared services, those costs will then be spread among the participating school districts.

Into budget detail…

The largest portion of revenues is state funding. Second is county funding. The municipal contribution is currently set at the state mandated formula relating to the property taxes, but is being funded through the local option sales tax.

On the expense side, by far the largest portion is teacher salaries and related general education expenses. The projection is that there will be 395 general education teachers, which is an increase of approximately 13 teachers over current staffing levels. Most of the increase in teachers will go to CHS and SFMS. In the health insurance projection, the current district-employee ratio used is 66-34%. It is estimated that 80% of eligible personnel will actually enroll in the health care plan.

Another area with significant personnel numbers is special education. Special education staffing will follow current numbers, which are generally where legacy SCS was. It should be noted that by law the ‘maintenance of effort’ rules around special education are based on the first year of operations, whereas the overall maintenance of effort will be based on numbers after three years of operation. Maintenance of effort refers to the rules around towns that fund school districts not being allowed to reduce their funding levels for the schools unless there is a significant reduction in enrollment.

In reference to budget line items around instructional equipment, the question was asked if measures are being taken to ensure current school inventories will not change after the end of the school year. The settlement agreement stipulates that everything in the schools as of the time of the agreement will stay with the schools. Mr Aitken assured the boards that this is being watched closely. The superintendents in the county (including SCS’ Hopson) are discussing this in a meeting this week. Inventory documentation exists and school administration is keeping an eye on it.

Other notable budgeting items:

  • Health rooms will see a nurse at each school, and a medical records clerk at each school.
  • There will be a full-time librarian at each school.
  • Librarian assistants and cafeteria monitors will return to the schools.
  • Each school will have a plant manager again.
  • Special Education clerical staff will remain at each school (these are being cut at SCS).
  • Janitorial Services will continue to be outsourced as per the legacy SCS model.
  • Transportation will be outsourced, because of the inability to start an in-house system in the time allowed and funding available.
  • Career and Technical education will be a shared service provided by Arlington under contract.
  • Curriculum Technology Trainers (CTT) will be assigned two schools each. There will also be 6 tech support resources for the district.
  • After three years, the school district, by state law, must have built a reserve fund equaling 3% of its annual operating expenses.
  • No major capital items are included in the budget for this year.
  • Collierville Schools will be awaiting the results of discussions at the county level around some overdue maintenance items at some of the school buildings.
  • In the budget is a line item for $500,000 to be paid to SCS as part of the settlement agreement for the next 12 years.

Throughout the presentation, there were clarifying questions asked by various board members. My comments above generally include the explanations given.

At the end of the meeting, Vice Mayor Maureen Fraser asked about enrollment confirmation letters, and was told that the last of those should have gone out today. Generally speaking, all requests had been honored. Another question by Ms Fraser was about school start times. After remarking that this would depend on the arrangement with the transportation company, Mr Aitken also clarified that while the aspirational goals might be to go to two start times, for practical and budgetary reasons, it looks like the district will remain at three start times at least this coming year. A change in start times would seem likely after a few years, but not right now.

In conclusion, Mr Aitken pointed out that the main objectives were to restore services and service levels to the legacy SCS levels, at the least. Having shared services is a key element in being able to spend more of the district’s money in the classrooms.

 

Teacher hiring:

After the meeting, in a conversation with Mr Aitken, he indicated that teacher employment offers should be going out this week. There is no requirement of currently having tenure to be eligible to be hired for next school year right now. This is good news for all those teachers eager for news about their continued employment in their municipal schools!

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Collierville School Board working session – April 22, 2014 – Citizen’s report

Apr 22

Posted by E2Dutch in Uncategorized | No Comments

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)

 

Collierville School Board Business Meeting – April 8, 2014 – Citizen’s Report

Apr 8

Posted by E2Dutch in Rave | No Comments

Below is my summary of the April 8 Collierville Schools Board meeting. This was a regular business meeting.

All of the board was in attendance. About two dozen of the public were present, as well as various Collierville Schools staff. There were no comments from the public.

After approval of the agenda, which included the removal from the agenda of the two interlocal agreements, and the approval of the minutes of the various March board meetings, the chair delivered his report.

Mr. Hansen commented on the positive results of the enrollment nights, and on the progress made towards the interlocal agreements which will allow the municipalities to band together on common services and thus have high quality services at a much lower cost than when set up individually. While the agreements weren’t ready to be voted on this week, they are nearing completion. Mr. Hansen also mentioned the Collierville Education Foundation fundraiser the board attended last week. This is a very highly commendable organization that provides grants directly to teachers. Finally, Mr Hansen touched upon the preliminary BEP funding estimate Collierville Schools got from the State Department of Education, with more detail to be provided by Mr. Aitken.

Mr Aitken, in his Superintendent’s report, addressed the BEP funding. This is the funding for the schools by the state, which is the largest part of funding for the schools. This is a set amount per enrolled student. The estimated amount, based on current enrollment numbers, was approximately $1M higher than the feasibility study had used.

Enrollment numbers from the enrollment period came out around 90-91% of the projected fall enrollment, which is, according to Mr Aitken, a very good result. The schools have continued to follow up with families who have not yet provided their intent, in order to get even more reliable enrollment projections for next year.

Mr Aitken also mentioned the new hires for Collierville Schools:

  • Director of Student Services – Herchel Burton
  • Head of nutrition – Marsha Landstreet
  • Three Powerschool administrators – Karen Dew, Becky Kenley, Tabitha Barnes
  • Director for Curriculum and Accountability, Louise Claney
  • Pre-K through 5 Supervisor, Dr Andre Crafford

These all come with significant (legacy) SCS experience.

The nutrition and powerschools positions are shared services positions, which means their expense will be spread among the participating municipal school districts, which will be covered through interlocal agreements. Mr Aitken took the time to address some concerns from the public that he had heard about the phrase ‘shared services,’ especially in regard to nutrition. The bottom line, he explained, is that each school will have staff to prepare and serve the staff and students. The cafeteria at each school will operate independently, but will have the support of the planning, administration, purchasing and budgeting processes from the central office.

With the application deadline passed for non-resident enrollment at Collierville Schools, there are approximately 700 non-resident applications to be reviewed.

Finally, Mr Aitken asked the board to authorize him to initiate an RFSOQ process for a future school to be built. This process authorizes him to review the qualifications of architecture and planning firms to help select a future site and start the planning for a new building. The need for a new school was presented to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen last week, and met with approval. The Collierville School Board voted to authorize the RFSOQ process.

The next agenda item was a report by Mr. Simpson, the consultant. He updated the board on the progress made at the historic high school building (Poplar and Walnut) for the Collierville Schools central office. The work is being overseen by the Town, and the move-in date is projected for the second week of May. Secondly, the Town has engaged Ms Debra Rike as a consultant to select a bus routing and planning software package and prepare for its use. The package under consideration is called Versatrans, which includes GPS functionality, which may offer parents the ability to see the location of the bus, and the projected time at each stop. Routing staff will be hired soon. The final part of Mr. Simpson’s update addressed work with The Pool, a Tennessee Risk Management organization that is expected to provide insurance for Collierville Schools properties and liability.

Following these updates, the Superintendent presented the proposed policies for second reading. He highlighted a few adjustments made since the last reading. Mr Vaughan motioned to suspend the rules and vote to approve the policies on the consent agenda, rather than have them return for a third reading. The motion, and the policies, were approved. A summary and some comments on these policies from the working session two weeks ago can be found here.

Finally, in closing comments, Mr. Aitken indicated that immediately following the working session in two weeks, there would be a special called meeting to vote on the interlocal agreements that were dropped from the agenda today.

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Collierville School Board working session – March 25, 2014 – Citizen’s report

Mar 25

Posted by E2Dutch in Uncategorized | No Comments

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.

Collierville School Board special called meeting – March 21, 2014 – Citizen’s report

Mar 21

Posted by E2Dutch in Rave | No Comments

Quick summary of the special called meeting. This is from my notes and observations, and I will indicate where I insert my opinion.

This meeting was called at last Tuesday’s meeting in order to consider the anticipated proposed interlocal agreement with Germantown for the Houston Middle and High Schools. As expected, Germantown’s school board voted on, and approved, the interlocal agreement on Thursday 3/20.

Kevin Vaughan missed the meeting due to previously scheduled vacation. Around 15 people attended this meeting, including a reporter from the Commercial Appeal.

There were no public comments.

Mr Aitken introduced the content of the interlocal agreement:

  • Three year duration
  • Covers current 6th and 7th grade Collierville residents at Houston Middle and current 9th through 11th graders at Houston High.
  • Students will be allowed to choose to continue to attend their school until their exit grade
  • Germantown will provide transportation for these students
  • In exchange, Collierville will allow Germantown to use its bus lot, and the gas pumps at the bus lot (and will pay for fuel used)
  • Collierville will also pay $100 per student to Germantown to cover transportation cost

This also means the following:

  • Collierville Students not covered under this agreement (transfers), including siblings of covered students will NOT be eligible for transportation by Germantown
  • Students will need to register at these Germantown schools by April 11
  • Students should not register at their zoned Collierville school if they are choosing to register and attend in Germantown under this agreement

Board member Cox and Chairman Hansen made statements in support of the agreement, and highlighted that this would offer the affected families stability and the ability to choose.

The agreement was approved 4-0 by the board members present.

The other agenda item brought before the board for consideration by the Superintendent was a resolution to authorize the Superintendent to enter into a contract with Pearson for the purchase and installation of the Powerschool student data management system. This is the same system that was in use with the legacy Shelby County Schools system. Board members remarked that they had received numerous requests from parents and teachers to go back to this system.

The first year cost, including implementation and data conversion is $340,000, and the annual cost after that will be $170,000. The software will be used by all municipal school districts and Collierville will receive payment for this on a per-student basis. The Collierville share of the first year cost will be $88,000.

The board voted 4-0 to approve this resolution, following comments by Mr Hansen about the model of ‘saving through sharing’ where the municipal districts are joining forces to be able to defray the cost of necessary support services, in order to maximize the funds dedicated to teaching the students.

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Thoughts on creating new (municipal) school systems… Reality Check #1: are we there yet?

Mar 20

Posted by E2Dutch in Ramble, Rant, Reality Check | No Comments

(my blog – my opinions…)
I have been very interested in, and engaged with, the process to create municipal schools, from the moment I moved to Collierville in 2011. This was shortly after the MCS charter surrender. This will not be the place to go over bygones like why we needed to go this route… If you think we shouldn’t have… perhaps an ‘offline’ discussion will help us exchange ideas in a productive manner…

So you want to start a school system…

Reading the frequent comments on various posts in the Collierville Schools Facebook group, it becomes clear a lot of people are having trouble looking outside their own area of concern. I totally agree that they should be PASSIONATE about their children’s schooling. However, with that passion, they will need to realize that there is a lot of work that goes into creating a new school system.

Everything a school system does is closely controlled by laws and regulation. The rules about who is responsible for the education of which child are lengthy and detailed. The number of kids in a school building drives just about everything: funding (from multiple sources), staffing, transportation, nutrition, etc. That number is a result of a combination of who is zoned to a school, who chooses to opt out of public education (home school or private school), and who chooses to attend outside their zoned school (incoming and outgoing). At the same time, traditional school registration practices have students not formally committing to a school until 4 business days before the start of the school year. When the school year starts, however, the expectation is that everything will be in place for education to commence. Think about that for a second…

To resolve these challenges, the school boards in the municipalities are looking to get early commitments to specific (zoned) schools. And, actually, information on intent to not go to a certain school. (this is why it is so important to ‘early register’ your kids when asked to do so!)

Another challenge – an arrangement for students to attend outside where they are legally required to be served… The big example here is for the Collierville residents attending at Germantown’s Houston Middle and High Schools. Germantown has no jurisdiction over these students, and Collierville has no jurisdiction over the schools in Germantown. Collierville has the option of making an arrangement with Germantown to accommodate a certain set of students for a certain amount of time. This requires two elected bodies to set priorities, to know what the need, capacity and desire of the citizens and affected families is, and to then find common ground in a legally binding manner.

Until an agreement is in place (looks to be ready for prime time this week), the school boards can only make announcements and recommendations and set processes in place based on what is the rule and what is formally in place and agreed upon, and what is actually within their jurisdiction.

Yet, this responsible manner of answering requests and questions seems to infuriate people… They need answers now!

From observing the CMSD school board in action, I know for a fact that this is a very passionate group of people who actively promote the Collierville students’ best interests. If they could move faster, they would.

Perhaps what is missing in the equation is trust. Trust in the process to be worked out between Germantown and Collierville to reach a practical and responsible agreement. Trust in the motives and intent of the CMSD school board. Trust that the concerns that have been expressed are being heard. Trust in your elected school board and the school office staff and leadership they are hiring to serve your children.

If the actions of a school board, school, or a school’s staff seem to indicate that your children are not an even priority to them compared to other children, perhaps that is your sign that you’re looking to have them attend the wrong school. I am hearing some Collierville residents are choosing to not have their children stay at a school until their exit grade because of various reasons. Public comments made by folks (parents, residents, students, etc.) associated in one form or another with those schools may have been a contributing factor for some. That is sad, but we should be able to rejoice in the fact that there is now a choice.

Support your local school boards. Learn what they are working on. Read the reports (my ‘citizen’s reports’ included). Get involved. And trust them to do the job we elected them to do.

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Collierville School Board special called meeting – March 18, 2014 – Citizen’s report

Mar 18

Posted by E2Dutch in Rave, Reality Check | No Comments

Tonight the Collierville Municipal School Board met in a special called meeting for the purpose of approving the Superintendent engaging the district into agreements for various communications services. Below are my notes from the meeting. As expected, the board chair made some comments about the progress of an interlocal agreement with Germantown. Please note this is from my notes and observations, and I will be sure to indicate when I am inserting my own opinion.

Not a big crowd in attendance for today’s meeting, but yet again the full board was in attendance.

There were no comments from the public.

The business part of the meeting had Mr Aitken describe the communication services contracts for the school’s internet services, the internal network, telecom services (land lines) and wireless services (for select employees). Through a group purchasing coop (erates) the district will spend $18,018 on phone lines (discounted from $42,900) and $116,000 for internet and network services. As part of the RFP process, the district is going to get increased bandwidth from what is currently available to the schools. This will help ensure that online testing will run with appropriate network capacity.

The board approved Mr A to enter into the appropriate agreements. Legal review of the contracts is under way, and upon completion of that process, the agreements will be signed in time for the Friday 3/21 deadline that is in place due to telecommunications regulations.

Before adjourning the meeting, Mr Hansen provided a brief update on the interlocal agreement with Germantown. He stated that the Germantown board is expected to vote on the proposed agreement in a special called meeting Thursday evening (3/20), and because he wants to put this urgent issue to rest, has called a special called meeting for Friday at 6pm for a vote on the same agreement by the board.

I expect this agreement to cover what was discussed in the previous meeting: currently enrolled Collierville resident students at the Houston Middle and High Schools, as well as the Collierville resident elementary school students (Farmington and Dogwood) will be able to remain at those schools until their exit grade. Transportation will be made available for those students.

This should alleviate the concern currently expressed by parents of those students, as their kids won’t be required to register at their zoned Collierville school if they are going to attend in Germantown.

An observation: it seems to me the Collierville school board has acted with appropriate urgency and due diligence in his matter. The base principle has always been to get all Collierville resident students in Collierville schools, but this has been paired with the desire to allow students to finish out at their current schools if those families wanted to. This will also allow the CMSD a little more time to plan for the increasing attendance.

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Collierville School Board Business Meeting – March 11, 2014 – citizen’s report

Mar 11

Posted by E2Dutch in Rave | No Comments

Regularly scheduled board meeting. As I stated before… Please note this is from my notes and observations, and I will be sure to indicate when I am inserting my own opinion.

The board meeting opened with a demonstration some students from by Collierville High’s STEM class (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. They demonstrated a robot they built as part of a national competition. The students were in Murphreesboro earlier this month and qualified 11 students to compete in the national event at the end of June in Washington, DC. Interesting to note: this is the first year for Collierville to have a program and compete, and they performed exceptionally well at the state level. While using some less sophisticated equipment (hand tools rather than full-on machine shop), their entry in the robot competition, according to the University of Memphis, was the only entry from the western end of Tennessee that met all requirements, and did so at half the maximum weight. Great job for CHS and their STEM program.

Public comments came from one resident, who has her kids at Dogwood and who are in the current Houston Middle School zone. She expressed a desire to get clarity soon, so that her daughter can try out for the athletic program at the right school.

In the Chairman’s report, Mr Hansen remarked on the eventful week since the board last met (one week ago), namely the Germantown reversal on their tuition requirement for non-residents and the dismissal of the lawsuit that had been pending for so long. Based on the change in direction in Germantown, Mr Aitken and Mr Hansen reengaged in discussions around an interlocal agreement that would have current students at the Houston Middle and High schools (and probably Dogwood Elementary) attend their schools until the exit grade (5th, 8th or 12th). No Collierville residents would be zoned to these schools, but the current students would have the choice to finish their time at those schools, or to attend their zoned school in the CMSD. In the agreement there would likely be some form of compensation to Germantown for the transportation costs for those Collierville residents in the form of services in kind by CMSD. Mr Hansen expressed being cautiously optimistic about the conclusion of this discussion, while Mr Aitken expressed even more optimism.

In the Superintendent’s report, Mr Aitken updated the board on the progress made in developing the interlocal agreements for shared services. The total employee count for the shared services will be 22, at a cost of $1.8M including salaries, office space, etc. Collierville is likely to have access to these services at a cost of  approximately $24k per employee. This is allocated on a per-pupil cost allocation among participating municipalities. These allocations are projected on current enrollment data and will be validated in the fall after final (40 day) enrollment numbers are in. In the plans underway, Bartlett will take on Planning, IT, Payroll/Benefits, Communications and Purchasing, and Collierville will be responsible for Nutrition, Transportation and Powerschool. Since there is likely a March 21 deadline for approval of certain communication services contracts, the board may be called into a special called meeting on 3/18.

Next on the agenda is the report by the consultant, Mr Simpson. He provided a brief update on the planning work being done for services like utilities, security, maintenance, insurance. He also updated the board on the progress being made at the old Collierville High building (most recently part of the middle school) for the CMSD Central Office. The work on the first floor conversion of classrooms into office space is nearing completion, and he expects the school district being able to move in by mid to late April. Mr Vaughan asked about ownership of that facility, and was informed the town will retain ownership. Any lease arrangement is to be worked out at a later time.

The following agenda item was the approval of proposed policies that were read two weeks ago at the working session, all around the establishment of financial processes and procedures. Ms Messerly appeared to be the only one who would get excited about these, due to her background as a CPA. All policies were approved as written, with minimal changes from previous readings.

On to the most anticipated part of the meeting – proposed attendance zones. This was led by Ms Jones, who is performing planning services for CMSD as part of the shared services agreement on the agenda. Ms Jones walked through the major changes to the attendance zones, which deal exclusively with the absorption of Collierville residents into the CSMD and the acknowledgement of non-residents being rezoned out of CMSD schools by Shelby County Schools. I expect the maps to be on the CMSD website soon.

Note: these are estimates based on current enrollment figures in the schools. These numbers reflect the zoning assigned, and does not address any agreements with Germantown to have students attend outside Collierville. More about that below…

A quick summary:

Elementary schools.
Non-resident students (which includes annexation reserves) rezoned by SCS to SCS schools: 87 from Tara Oaks (North of Wolf River); 4 from Sycamore in the southern annexation zone, and 52 in the area off the western side of Collierville; 164 from Bailey Station in the area east of Forest Hill Irene Road. Bailey Station is also gaining 40 students from the area within Collierville municipal lines just west of Houston Levee. All elementary schools will remain comfortably within their capacity numbers. Tara Oaks will be the lowest capacity, below 60%.

Middle schools.
Collierville Middle will lose 35 students; Schilling Farms will lose 27 from non-Collierville areas, and will gain 180 students who currently are zoned at Houston Middle. CMS will be near 77% capacity, and SFMS will be at 114% capacity. This does not account for the 8 portable classrooms in place, which would accommodate 160 students. While a rezoning of middle school students appears desirable soon, it would not be practical to do so before the 2014-15 school year, due to the elaborate public input process required for that. Approximately 90-100 students appear to have indicated their intent to stay at HMS if possible.

High school.
Collierville High will gain 922 students, all from Houston High. This would push CHS to 2869 students, or 143% of capacity. It should be noted that if current HHS students stay at HHS, CHS would go to around 2100 students. CHS enrollment would then go up by approximately 250 students each year for the next 3 years.

The following options, in order of most complex/undesirable to easiest/desirable can be used to address the space issues, primarily at CHS:

  1. Split shifts, where part of the grades attend from early in the morning till early in the afternoon and the remaining grades attend from noon till late in the afternoon. This is complex and undesirable, but theoretically possible. At SCS, this was done for a short time after tornado damage to HHS in 1994.
  2. Grade level configurations: making elementary run K-6, middle 7-9 and high 10-12. This would alleviate issues at CHS down to 95% capacity, increase utilization at the elementary schools, and have CHS at 95%, SFMS at 117%, basically putting all the pressure on the middle schools, while there would be no room for growth at the middle schools and high school.
  3. Use of temporary space in the community – leasing (unused) commercial space that can be configured for classrooms.
  4. Portable Classrooms: CHS would need 10-15 portable classrooms added to the two already in place. The cost of these, delivered and wired, is approximately $50k each. Logistically, there is no great likelihood of being able to get more than 4 new classrooms installed by the start of the school year.
  5. Floating Teachers. These are teachers who move from classroom to classroom while the permanent teacher in that classroom has their planning hour. This has been done at CHS in the past, and allows CHS to accommodate approximately 2400 students in that format.

The board expects the anticipated Germantown interlocal agreement to allow current enrolled students to attend, which will alleviate capacity issues for the coming school year. However, it is clear from these numbers that plans need to be set into motion to address capacity for the 2015 and later school years.

As the final agenda item, Mr Hansen proposed that Evans and Petree be engaged as the school system’s ‘every day’ counsel, specifically Mike Marshall, who lives in Collierville and is a partner at the firm. For more complex, policy related issues, Mr Hansen asked to retain the regional firm of Adams and Reese, which incidentally counts State Senator Mark Morris as a partner. This proposal was approved.

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Collierville School Board special called meeting – March 4, 2014 – Citizen’s report

Mar 4

Posted by E2Dutch in Rave | No Comments

Last week, I posted a summary of the school board meeting. Due to the positive response to that summary, I will try to continue to do this. Please note this is from my notes and observations, and I will be sure to indicate when I am inserting my own opinion.

At the 2/25 meeting, a special called meeting was scheduled for today, March 4, in order to be able to move certain key policies ahead to allow the school board and the school central office to get to work on the 2014-15 school year.

Today’s meeting had a higher attendance than previous meetings I attended. Also in attendance were members of the press: CA, Daily News and Memphis Flyer.

Seven members of the public addressed the board. Most were expressing concern about the level of uncertainty for Collierville Schools attendance by non-residents, and Collierville residents attending non-Collierville schools (mostly Houston Middle and High). Some arguments for or against charging non-residents tuition were also expressed.

During the Chairman’s report, Board Chairman Mark Hansen provided a response to some of the public comments and an update on the discussions held with Germantown. In reference to Germantown’s decision to set a tuition for non-resident students, and other aspects of the Germantown policies, he stated he cannot comment on their policies. He also indicated that no agreement to zone Collierville residents to Houston schools is expected at this time, but also not ruled out. No further meetings on the topic are planned at this time, however.

In response to the public comments about interaction with the public, Mr Hansen pointed out that the School Board is responsive to questions emailed to them, that the Superintendent has attended every Collierville PTA meeting, and has generally made himself available in the community. Collierville Schools do not have access to the PTA at the Houston schools, however. He expressed interest in the idea of a public forum, and will look into holding one.

Chairman Hansen said the proposed CMSD enrollment policies:
- are responsive to family wishes
- offer options to families
- avoid disruption in school attendance patterns

Some parents will have to make some tough decisions if their kids currently attend school outside Collierville municipal boundaries. The board will respect parents who choose non-CMSD schools. In Collierville, parents/students will find:
- Collierville will ‘welcome with open hearts’ all Collierville residents, and will have room for all resident students, even if some schools will be close to capacicity.
- Collierville students will enjoy an education of the highest standard, and at schools that are competitive nationally.
- Any Collierville resident student outside walking distance (not defined at this time) can count on transportation to the Collierville schools that they are zoned for.
- Collierville will promote the core virtues of scholarship, integrity and service to its students.

The Superintendent’s report was next. Mr Aitken echoed the sentiments of the chair – Collierville Kids in Collierville schools.

There will be early enrollment for Collierville residents on March 24, 25 and 27. Full details will be on the schools website by the end of this week. The dates are based on grade levels, and will incorporate proof of residency. The enrollment data will be used to set open enrollment limits. Students will also be able to do course registration after the enrollment. Attendance zone maps are being drafted and will be public in time for the early enrollment – please watch the website. Open enrollment will have an April 4 deadline this year.

Moving on to policy approvals – all policies approved as read last week, with only minor changes to reflect current data.

Notable:
Collierville Schools will have an open enrollment policy for anyone outside municipal boundaries to apply to attend Collierville Schools. This will, obviously be subject to capacity and the non-resident’s continued academic and behavioral performance, and will have to be requested each year. Prioritization will be as follows:

  1. Children of Collierville Schools’ teachers who live outside the municipality
  2. Students currently enrolled at one of the 8 Collierville Schools
  3. Siblings of students currently enrolled at one of the 8 Collierville Schools
  4. Children of Collierville employees who live outside the municipality
  5. Students who are rezoned by SCS and live in closer proximity to the Collierville School they want to attend than to the school where they are zoned
  6. Remaining Shelby County residents not covered in 1-5 above.
  7. Tennessee residents who are not residents of Shelby County.

Shelby County residents will not be charged a fee to attend Collierville Schools.

In comments by the board, it was pointed out that charging a fee for school attendance violates the intent on which the municipal schools were approved by voters in state legislature and the public. A fee would be a barrier or hindrance for some, and that is not a desirable outcome. Considering Collierville funding is from sales taxes, not property taxes, there is no inequity here. Additionally, Collierville residents will enjoy enrollment guarantee at their schools, transportation, and school board representation.

Finally, a school calendar was approved, similar to the Shelby County calendar and identical to the one approved by the other municipal schools.

My observation:
The situation created by Shelby County Schools that specifically calls for only city residents to be zoned to the municipal schools, and for them to retain control of the three Germantown namesake schools is a reality that the school board has to work with. The school board has a legal obligation to educate the children of Collierville, and has fiscal responsibility to the residents of Collierville. The policies adopted by the board ensure that the school board fulfills its obligations, and make it possible for residents to make alternate arrangements should they choose to do so. Non-residents will be offered the opportunity to enjoy the Collierville education system as space allows. Non-residents should direct their frustrations to their elected (county) school board and county commission representatives who created this situation.

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