Since the local media do a generally abysmal job at reporting relevant news on the municipal school efforts, I will start trying to provide my summary of school board meetings here. Meeting reports will be based on observation of the meeting, and my personal notes. Where I venture into opinion, it should generally be clear.
The Collierville Municipal School Board meets every other week. The meetings alternate between working sessions, where the board receives and provides updates, and board meetings, where items can be approved, as well as discussed. At the board meetings, the public can speak during the comment session at the start of the meeting. Today’s working session had (as per usual so far) all 5 board members present.
The main purpose of the meeting was to perform a first reading of 26 board policies, primarily focused on financial processes, and then 10 policies mostly around attendance, transfers, and the calendar for the 2014-15 school year. The board moved to call a special meeting to vote on the latter 10 policies a week from today (March 4), so as to pick up some momentum around these key policies that will shape a lot of activity for the school administration.
The main item of note from the first 26 to me was the establishment of a single payroll calendar for all employees of the school district, which will see everyone paid on the first and fifteenth, rather than the biweekly payroll that SCS uses today. From a payroll administration perspective, a single, semimonthly payroll is easier to process than a mix of pay frequencies.
In the other 10 you will find some of the key items people have been waiting for:
- The CMSD calendar will look very much like the current SCS calendar. It should be noted that there is a state requirement to have completed at least 120 instructional days before spring testing, and then when you factor in Spring Break, Christmas Break, Fall Break and a few shorter breaks and holidays… there is not much flexibility left in when school starts. The proposed calendar has student registration on July 29, and school starting on Monday August 4. There is an expectation that in subsequent years, there will be more tweaking, and parental input through surveys.
- Non-resident enrollment is a big issue. 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:
- Children of Collierville Schools’ teachers who live outside the municipality
- Students currently enrolled at one of the 8 Collierville Schools
- Siblings of students currently enrolled at one of the 8 Collierville Schools
- Children of Collierville employees who live outside the municipality
- 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
- Remaining Shelby County residents not covered in 1-5 above.
There will be no tuition for any Shelby County resident to attend Collierville Schools. Those outside the county will be assessed a fee based on various factors (fairly nominal) and those from out of state will be accepted on a case by case basis only and will be charged a fee equivalent to the average cost to educate a single student in the state of TN. Any contribution by the student’s ‘home’ district will offset these fees.
Open enrollment will take place in the spring of each year. Students attending school outside their assigned attendance zone will not be eligible for transportation provided by Collierville Schools.
Note: this year, CMSD will perform an early enrollment effort in order to create firm planned attendance counts for each school shortly after spring break, which will then allow the school office to start the open enrollment process.
The non-resident enrollment policy will be subject to review and adjustment on an annual basis.
- In-district transfers will be handled similar to open enrollment. The prioritization listed above will apply there as well.
These administrative policies will be voted on at the special called meeting on March 4, 6 pm at the Collierville Town Hall.
Following these policy readings, the Superintendent provided an update around the interlocal agreements that are under development with Bartlett. In these agreements, Bartlett will provide for the following services: planning, payroll and IT services and Collierville will provide nutrition, transportation and PowerSchool administration. Mr Aitken explained that the Bartlett and Collierville districts have a lot in common and are not in competition with eachother, and will be able to offer these services to other municipalities on a per-student pricing as desired. When asked, Mr Aitken confirmed that nutrition will be run out of school-based kitchens. This was met with applause from the audience.
Finally, Mr Hansen provided an update around the discussions with Germantown. Basically, he indicated that there are some differences of opinion around Germantown’s desire to charge fees for non-residents to attend. It is still possible an agreement will be reached that will structure attendance zoning of Collierville residents that are currently zoned to a Houston school or Dogwood Elementary, but it also seems that sufficient capacity will be available at these schools so that Collierville residents can apply to be enrolled there through Germantown’s open enrollment policies. This will be dependent on, and subject to, Germantown’s policies, which should be finalized soon. In case of open enrollment at Germantown schools by Collierville residents, those students/families will have to provide for their own transportation.