October 12, 2020 at 5:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Our student representative, Skyler Stone, led us with a moment of silence and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Krista McKay requested moving 2.H. *CHS New Credit Card Request to the Regular Agenda.  Dawn Robinson recommends it be moved to the Regular Agenda under 3.B. Spotlight.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -National School Lunch Week, this week October 12-16.  This a week of celebration in our cafeterias, and I want to thank our cafeteria staff for all they do.
-National Principals Month is all of October.  We will be doing some social media posts about this, and we want to thank them for their hard work.  Dr. Dyer lets the board know we will email them these posts in case they don't follow CCS on social media.
-Dr. Laing is a finalist for TDOE Principal of the Year.  On October 20 there will be an online celebration and they will announce the winner.   
-Dr. Dyer had class discussions with Leadership students at CHS and Engineering/Digital Media students at CMS.  I like to play stump the director because students ask great questions.
-TOSS/TDOE Superintendent Study Council Fall Meeting was online instead of in person.  This was a really good session for superintendents.
-Dr. Dyer went to Nashville and spoke at the TN House of Representatives Educations Committee Summer Study.  He shared the CCS story and answered questions about our reopening plan.  It is archived and it can be watched if you would like.
-TSBA Journal - CCS is featured in the October 2020 publication.
-Deb Hart Classic was held at Stuart Elementary.  It is the Elementary Cross Country meet.  Our teachers did a great job with this event.
-The Community Foundation of Cleveland Bradley County Grant - WiFi in all the parking lots of our schools (you must have a CCS issued laptop/device to be able to connect to this WiFi) and helped provide grants to help implement our Strategic Planning.
-Rotary Foundation Grant funded the Raider Reader Program.  Before fall break we gave all 1st and 2nd graders a book.  Dr. Dyer had the pleasure to read about dinosaurs at Stuart Elementary.
-Upcoming Legal Seminars with TOSS/TSBA and Chuck Cagle: FERPA/Child Abuse Reporting, Title IX, Employment Law, and Budgeting, Purchasing, Bidding, and Contracting.
-Hal Taylor wanted Dr. Dyer to thank the school board for the approval of selling the schools buses and van.  There should be 2 new school buses arriving this week.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes): 
Barbara Ector is here to present the AP Scholars.  The Power Point presentation is shown on the screen. We had 27 students that are AP scholars at CHS.  AP Scholars means the students scored 3 or higher on 3 or more AP exams.  AP Scholars with Honors means students scored 3.25 on all AP exams and scored 3 or higher on 4 or more of these exams.   AP Scholar with Distinction means students have an average score of 3.5 or more on all AP exams and score a 3 or higher on 5 of these exams.  We have a nice group of students that we are proud of.  Also, you will notice Skyler Stone is on this list.

Sara Whitener, the Assistant Principal of CCCES, recognizes Candy's Creek Cherokee Elementary School SRO Mike Harris.  When we were informed that Officer Harris would be receiving the Law Enforcement Commendation Medal from the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, we weren't very surprised.  We work with him every day, and we see the great job he does.  When Chief Gibson came to our school to take part in the presentation, he stated many reasons why Officer Harris was deserving of this honor, and all the reasons revolved around his high level of dependability, work ethic, and loyalty.  At school, we all know that Officer Harris has received many awards and has been a patrol officer, a member of the SWAT team, an instructor in different capacities, and even detects explosives with his K-9 partner.  However, his role as our School Resource Officer is the most important to our Thunderbird families and students.  His role with us involves more than just protecting us.  He is a role model for all our students and models respect and kindness to everyone.   He guides us and connects us with resources when we have concerns about students.  He helps watch over our campus and troubleshoots problems with security and sometimes even maintenance concerns.  His response is always the same whether we ask him to help unload an 18 wheeler full of outdoor furniture or to speak to a concerned parent or to take care of a giant spider - with a smile and patience and a positive, willing attitude.  Thank you, Officer Harris, for the consistent good example that you set for all of us and for being an integral part of our Thunderbird family.  We appreciate your service to our school community and the larger Cleveland community.

-The board thanks Officer Harris for being at CCS and he does a great job.  
-Officer Harris enjoys working with everyone in the schools and thanks the board for the recognition.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dr. Dyer ask Cindy Geren to come to the podium in case the board has questions.
-Dr. Dyer states we found out today that TSBA has a model policy on credit cards.  Dr. Dyer asks Julie Smith to pass out 2 documents; 1.The model policy from TSBA and 2. Credit Card Procedure (Both documents have blanks to personalize and are just models).  The Credit Card Policy from TSBA talks about how to use Credit Cards on page 2:  Auditors are ok with using credit cards as long as they follow the TN Rules regarding Credit Cards.  Credit Cards are already in use in the district.  The Purchase orders still have to be used to use a credit card, just like any other purchase.
-The board asks if there is going to be a limit on the amount spent per purchase like a purchase order?  Cindy Geren states they have not discussed this, but the credit cards that are being used now in schools are not allowed to be used by teachers, only the principals.  Also, the credit card does not leave the school.  The amount allowed to be spent on Credit Cards would be bound by our CCS Purchase Order procedures.  Dr. Dyer states they will discuss if they need to set a dollar amount limit when we are updating these models.  
-Dawn Robinson ask Dr. Dyer to bring an updated policy to the next meeting for it to be approved.  
-The board asks if a credit card lets you earn points could we use that to make purchases in the school with those points?  Cindy stated most of our credit cards don't earn points, but if they do they would discuss this.
-The board asks when they are putting the policy together that there is language to have checks and balances with the credit card statement and charges.  Cindy and Dr. Dyer stated this is already in place and they will put it in the new policy as well.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dr. Dyer presents the Strategic Plan Update: 
-The focus this month is student success.  The Goal is to provide excellence and equity in instruction and programs for student success.  He reviews the action steps, and rationale.  We recently did a Portrait of a Graduate video with Dr. Dyer being the moderator, and with Dr. Laing, Mr. Chai, Dr. Elliott, and Mrs. O'Bryan to speak on this for us.  The video is on the website.
-Dr. Dyer asks Mr. Michael Kahrs to come show the board the Grad Rate Dashboard to help discuss Ready Graduate. Mr. Kahrs states they are trying to put the data into the hands of the schools with these dashboards.  Keep in mind when you see the state report cards they are a year behind.  He wanted to show the board different subgroups and how they compare.  He states when you see all of the lines on the graph behaving the same that shows all of the groups are having the same systematic approach.  When one line goes way up or way down that's when the district needs to take notice of that group to see what is going on.  He first talks about the subgroup ethnicity.   He then talks about the CTE Completer subgroup (CTE Completer means they have took 3 classes in one particular CTE course).  He then shows the male/female subcategory.  Then, he looked at the underserved groups.  CCS was recognized for the highest achieving jump in ELL as one of the top 5% in the state.  Mr. Kahrs states if the graph doesn't have a line before, that means the state did not measure this category before that year on the graph.
-The Board asks by closing the Denning Center and moving the students to the high school, has that caused our graduation rates to drop?  Dr. Dyer states he has looked into this and this is not as big of a factor as he thought it would be.  Most of the students are doing what they should be doing and are graduating.  He is proud of those students and teachers in this program.
-Mr. Kahrs shows the Ready Graduate Dashboard.  You can become a Ready Graduate 4 ways: you would need a 21 on the ACT, or 4 Early Post Secondary Opportunity (EPSO) Credits, or 2 Early Post Secondary Opportunity Credits and get an industry certification, or 2 Early Post Secondary Opportunity Credits and pass the military test.   This means we are getting our students ready for post secondary.  Overall, we had a great jump from 2017-2018 to 2018-2019.  The only subgroups we had a drop in was ELL, and students with disabilities.  
-The Board asks how did we decipher this data because of COVID and we didn't test?  Dr. Dyer states legislatures are asking the same questions.  Dr. Dyer states its hard to find students that don't "show back up" to school and they don't have contact information.  Mr. Kahrs states if a student enrolls in CHS as a freshman they are counted as your cohort unless you can prove otherwise that they are in a different school or country.  Mrs. Robinson states that could effect us negatively with testing.  Mr. Kahrs states every kid represents a 1/3 of a percent.

Dr. Dyer states we are going to create a Portrait of a Graduate and Student Success Task Force.  We can't deny or use excuses, we need to address this head on.  There will be a Steering Committee chaired by Dr. Dyer. With subcommittees made up of: Elementary school level- Kellye Bender (chair), Secondary/CTE/CAPS - Joel Barnes and Renny Whittenbarger (co-chaired), and Ready Graduate and Graduate Rate - Michael Kahrs (chair).  These subcommittees will be made up of educators, students, and members of the community.  The objectives of this Task Force will be: how to close the gaps on testing, Portrait of a Graduate Implementation, Personalizing Learning, Interventions, Set Incremental increase in graduation rates, ACT, Ready Graduate and other data points, Engaging parents and our community, CAPS, and partner with an outside group, NIET (National Institute for Excellence in Teaching). I want NIET to show us what we are doing now and how we can improve this.  We will have our first task force meeting in late October.  We will bring the plan to the March board meeting so we can implement this next school year.  

-The board asks if on the registration documents can we ask for more phone numbers and addresses?  Mr. Kahrs states we ask for 12 additional addresses/phone numbers on the current registration form.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -Skyler states one word to describe this month was success.  The volleyball team has gone undefeated in the district.  ACT dates were successful, college acceptance week went well.  We already have students accepted into colleges.  Notable colleges are University of Montana, Lee University, UTC, an TN Tech.  Homecoming court, and SGA Representatives were elected.  Senior nights for the girls soccer and volleyball team were this month.  We are proud of our football team with their hard work and discipline.  There is a lot of Homecoming week preparations going on this week.  Golf team came in 7th in the tournament, and Hannah Nall came in 6th overall individually.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -Mrs. Robinson states the voting delegates will be Carolyn Ingram, Tom Cloud, Nate Tucker, Krista McKay and the alternate will be Peggy Pesterfield.

-Mrs. Robinson wants to congratulate Carolyn Ingram on being named the Southeast District Director.  Mrs. Ingram is excited to serve.  

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  -Mrs. Robinson adjourned the meeting by general consent.