May 14, 2024 at 6:00 PM - Kingsport City Schools Board of Education Regular Meeting

Description:  D-B EXCEL senior Micah Lawson will lead the Board of Education and audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.  

Description:  Mr. Todd Golden will recognize two Dobyns-Bennett High School seniors for being named 2024 Tennessee State High School Indoor Track & Field Champions at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on February 24, 2024.

• Brayden Simpson is the 2024 60M Hurdles State Champion.
• Nigel Vidale is the 2024 Boys High Jump State Champion.

Description:  Mr. Dean will recognize nine Dobyns-Bennett High School students who have qualified for the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament in Des Moines, IA on June 16-22, 2024. This year's qualifiers from Dobyns-Bennett High School are as follows:

1. Aivree Byram (12th grade)
2. Mackenzie Connelly (11th grade)
3. Jaylen Fields (10th grade)
4.  Lydia Hurst (11th grade)
5.  Lily Hutson (11th grade)
6. Aurora Palmer (12th grade)
7. Maggie Perry (12th grade)
8. Camryn Sims (11th grade)
9. Eleanor Voigt (10th grade)

The NSDA National Championship has existed since 1931 and is held every year during the third week of June. Any 9th-12th grade student with at least a Degree of Merit (25 points in the NSDA Honor Society) and an email address attached to their NSDA account is eligible to compete for a chance to qualify for Nationals. National Speech & Debate Association Tournaments are held each year to determine qualifiers for the National Tournament in speech, debate, and congressional debate. Each district tournament is hosted by an Association District, which is made up of a set of schools in a given geographic region.

Qualifiers from each district across the U.S. will come together and compete in the NSDA National Tournament this June. At the end of the tournament, the NSDA crowns a National Champion in each event category.

Description: 

Mrs. Woods will recognize four Dobyns-Bennett High Schools seniors who participated in the Tennessee School Boards Association (TSBA) 2024 Student Congress on Policies in Education (SCOPE) Conference at Belmont University in Nashville on March 5, 2024. The students attending the conference were Mason Brown, Jake Dempsey, Emma Nakhoul, and Ella Stidham. These students will be recognized for representing Dobyns-Bennett at the SCOPE Conference and provide a brief report on their conference experience to the BOE.  Ms. Shelby Lawhead, Social Studies Teacher at D-B, was chaperone.

Now in its 41st year, SCOPE is designed to give students a voice where public education issues are concerned and to involve young people in finding solutions to the topics that are discussed. Attendees participated in mock school board sessions, where they assumed the roles of school board members, school officials, parents, students and concerned citizens. The sessions were led by school board members and superintendents from across the state. 

At the end of the day, participants met as a congress, where each group's student leader debated one of the day's topics. These events are designed to give students an understanding of how school boards operate. Students expressed their opinions by voting on position statements involving the debated issues. This year's four debate topics included:

• Every student shall complete an internship as part of a local graduation requirement.
• Artificial intelligence may not be used in completing homework.
• The school week shall be a four-day week.
• Student cell phone use during school hours shall be prohibited.

The Board of Education covered the registration fees and travel costs for the four students to participate in the SCOPE Conference.

Description: 

This is the time when members of the audience are invited to comment on agenda items.  It is not the time to speak about personnel issues, as there are more appropriate ways in which these can be addressed.  If you are not sure how to do this, please ask one of us after the meeting.

In your remarks, you may not refer to students by name without permission from the parent or guardian.

If you would like to speak on a topic not included on the agenda, you are asked to submit your request in writing to the Superintendent of Schools at least three (3) business days prior to the scheduled date of the meeting.

If you would like to speak about an item included on tonight's agenda, please raise your hand.  I request that you state your name and limit your remarks to a maximum of three (3) minutes.

Description:  Approval of a Stop the Bleed grant is recommended. This grant will provide training kits to Kingsport City Schools nursing staff for instruction regarding how to stop bleeding in an emergency situation. The equipment value is $1,000.00 and no matching funds are required.

Description:  Approval of a Tribal Grounds grant is recommended for the 2024-2025 school year. Tribal Grounds is a mobile coffee cart operated by students with disabilities at Dobyns-Bennett High School. The students will be responsible for the maintenance and operation of the cart within the high school. This grant request is for the consumable components: coffee, sweetener, creamer, cups/lids, paper bags, and napkins. The monetary value is $549.00 and no matching funds are required.

Description:  Dr. Andy True, Assistant Superintendent - Administration, reviewed one new and one revised policy at the April work session for Board consideration for approval on First Reading at the May meeting. New policies require two readings and revised policies only require one reading for adoption.  

Description:  Dr. Brian Cinnamon, Chief Academic Officer - Secondary, Mr. David Frye, Chief Finance Officer, and Dr. Bo Shadden, Director of Career & Technical Education and Post-Secondary Education, will present a request to purchase a 2024 Ford F-150 Super Crew Cab Electric Truck for the Dobyns-Bennett High School Career & Technical Education (CTE) in the amount of $77,298.00. The truck is part of the addition of an Electric Vehicle Maintenance program to the CTE curriculum next school year. Funding will be from the Innovative School Models Grant. 

Description:  Mr. Frye will present a recommendation to purchase playground equipment for Adams Elementary School from Playworld in the amount of $99,077.42 utilizing Sourcewell Contract Number 010521-LTS-8. Funding for the project will be from the John Adams Playground Project (GP2404).

Description:  Mr. Frye will review bids opened on April 30, 2024 for the renovations to the Nancy Pridemore Little Theater at Dobyns-Bennett High School. The lowest compliant base bid was $322,000.00 from Preston Construction Company. The project architect on this project recommended moving forward with a contract with Preston Construction Company for the base bid amount of $322,000.00 and Alternate #2 for $10,000.00, which was to remove and replace the tile on the stairs that lead to the balcony, for a total construction contract total of $332,000.00. Including architect fee ($15,600.00) and a six percent contingency ($19,920.00), the total cost of this project will be $367,520.00. Funding will be from FY2023 Schools Capital Improvement Project. 

Description:  Mr. Frye will present Budget Amendment #8 for Board consideration.

Description:  Mr. Frye will present the proposed FY 2024-2025 Kingsport City Schools Budget for Board consideration.

Description:  Mr. Frye will provide a financial update for the 3rd quarter of FY 2023-2024.