Summary of the Board Business Meeting of November 28, 2017.

Full board in attendance.

Approval of agenda, previous minutes, financial reports.

First public comment: Thanks for soliciting and being responsive to the feedback from the rezoning meetings.

Second public comment: Along the same lines.

Board will allow latecomers to speak if desired due to tree lighting in town square.

Chairman comments:

• Referring to the news about the charges against the former CMS band director.
• Thanks to the staff and rezoning committee that put in a lot of time and effort.

Superintendent comments:

• Asking for prayers: Ms Rike’s 4-month old grandchild passing away tragically; coach Mike O’Neal undergoing cancer treatment
• Former band director Wilson’s been cleared of cancer
• Staff has been working on next steps for rezoning
• Jan 16-Feb 16 window for open enrollment for attendance
• Busy weeks ahead with the holiday season

Elementary School rezoning:

• Need to have a long-term zoning plan to avoid having to return to the drawing board so soon
• Less transportation need will reduce cost and lower the carbon footprint
• Two zoning proposals up for consideration (click link)
• First proposal lowers attendance in each school
• Second proposal incorporates feedback from meetings; leaves 4 of the zones essentially the same as current; uses non-resident enrollment to level out attendance zones
• Superintendent recommends approval of alternate zoning
• Most population growth in town will be in southern part of town – proposal 2 leaves the most room for growth
• Question from Mr Vaughan: in proposal 2, will any resident student receive a less equitable educational opportunity? Mr Jones: Collierville Schools is committed to guaranteeing an equitable educational opportunity for all students. Mr Aitken: SFMS will be retrofitted to an elementary school including a playground, removal of the portable classrooms and beautification.

Middle School rezoning:

• Three zoning proposals up for consideration - the first two, and the alternate with ‘green zones’
• Third proposal increases focus on proximity to zoned middle school
• Third proposal also creates accommodation for students already enrolled in middle school to allow them to choose to remain at their current school, including transportation to their school of choice
• Superintendent recommends the third proposal (with the green zones)

Around December 4, all affected students in the green zones will have their parents asked what their intent is, with a deadline of Dec 12, to help the planning effort for the open enrollment and the attendance for next school year.

Naming of the new elementary school: Proposed to name it Schilling Farms Elementary. Unanimous approval.

Scheduling 5pm work session for December 12 which will allow votes on proposals

In January work sessions will move to the schools offices on Thursdays, and business meetings at town hall also on Thursdays – view the full board calendar for details.

Board business – approval of changes to:

• Transportation management policy
• Tenure procedure

Meeting adjourned.

Tags: Citizen's Report, Collierville Schools, rezoning

Summary of the November 13 School Board Work Session.

Full board present.

Special Recognition – Tara Oaks Elementary. Veteran’s Day video. Full video available on Tara Oaks website.

Review Items (to be voted on at business meeting 11/28):

• October Financial Statements
• Tenure Policy – minor changes based on TSBA recommendations
• Student Transportation Management – updating the wording of the policy to better align with procedures. State law updates include phone number and formal process to report complaints. School buses will be topic of interest at the next legislative session.

Discussion of rezoning proposals:

• Public Meetings held in Sept, Oct, Nov
• Questions received still being worked through to put responses online
• Some updates based on public meeting inputs
• Acknowledgement of public present – ask to trust the process
• 100s of feedback items received by comment card and email from first two public meetings
• Updated proposal presented in public meeting 11/9
• Rezoning is a long-term impact
• >>must have equitable educational opportunity regardless of location
• >>overcrowded schools had to be relieved
• >>prepare for future growth
• >>maximize efficient use of transportation services
• Proposal 1 provided at least 500 students in each elementary zone
• Note: home values are not part of the consideration for zoning changes
• Proposal 2 looked more at location and at student transfers
• Proposal 2 addressed essentially all concerns raised for proposal 1 for the elementary schools
• Concern about uneven distribution between larger and smaller elementary schools
• Proposal 2 middle school sees two elementary schools with split attendance zones: Sycamore and Tara Oaks
• New proposal – adjustment to proposal 2 for middle schools
• New proposed middle school zones with highlights linked here - higher resolution to be posted on schools site tomorrow
• Zoning is essentially a hybrid between first two proposals, and creates somewhat of a diagonal line SW to NE for zoning
• “Green Zone” existing students can stay at their current middle school WITH transportation, but their transferring siblings would not get transportation past the 2019-20 school year. View the green zones and highlights of that concept here.
• Adjustments to zones will likely not lead to higher transportation cost for the district
• Transfers and non-residents will fill out the remainder of CMS for a total enrollment around the current number (high 900 range)
• School attendance in each school will be managed through closing for new transfers in some schools
• There will NOT be another public meeting to present this proposal
• Public comments will be invited in 2 weeks at the scheduled business meeting, with recommendation for vote that evening between the two elementary proposals and the three (or more) middle proposals
• Planning work for the new zones will start the following day
• Employees, siblings, residents, then open for external attendance

New Elementary School name: Schilling Farms Elementary School (has to be formally done) – will be voted in 2 weeks.

For new middle school, names will be sollicited.

Superintendent update:

• End of course assessment errors from state led to significant adjustment to lowest scoring area – English 10 had 200+ corrections. Now over 60% on track/mastered.
• Title I grant to be submitted tomorrow
• Planning work for new school zones to start soon
• After Thanksgiving there will be a naming effort with social media input for the new middle school name
• CHS build on schedule
• December board meeting will have work session prior to business meeting on 12/12, including updated resident policy
• Coach O’Neal caringbridge site good for updates as he is at MD Anderson for treatment
• Lots to be thankful for in this season

Chairman Update:

• Lots of competitions and athletics successes across all disciplines
• Calling out high school for historic high score in competition
• Theater, robotics, speech and debate, etc
• Great parental and teacher support

Meeting adjourned.

Tags: Citizen's Report, Collierville Schools, rezoning