March 12, 2024 at 4:00 PM - Working Committees

Discussion:  Hamby called the meeting to order at approximately 4pm. 

Discussion:  Hamby asked for a motion to approve the minutes. Stull made the motion and Nichols with the second. 

Discussion:  Hamby presented this policy. She told everyone that the district made a recommendation to reflect the national benchmark of 18. Maddox said this benchmark was not 18 and not 22, so the district recommenced to change to align with the national number. Hamby made the motion and Stull with the second to send recommendation on to full board. 

Discussion:  Hamby presented this policy again this month to see what changes had been recommended from feedback. She said this needs to be concise across the county and not school to school. She opened the floor for discussion. Stout suggested that Stepp and his admin team take the feedback back and take a look at the policy and make changes and bring it back again with a new proposed policy. Davis asked if what they were discussing was on the agenda. Hamby said yes, the feedback was asked to be brought back to them for discussion, so it could be discussed. Stull said she wanted to discuss it but seeing the info that was just given today, there was not enough time to read it over and make a decision. Hamby said yes, they needed more time. Boston asked if what they were trying to do was relax the dress code. Hamby said yes. Boston said if they done that then they are giving the building principal guidelines and they follow that to the best of their ability-is that what they were heading towards? Hamby said one of the things that she and a few others have voiced is moving away from each individual principal saying what each school has to wear-each employee at their school has to wear. Uniformity across the district. Davis asked when they were using the word "we" who were they referring to? Several answered "the board". Nichols said they are trying to achieve uniformity and the employees are respectful people and they will dress appropriately. Hamby added and not be dictated like the current policy reads. Boston asked if they could look at violations as well. Stepp said those are in the procedures. Hamby said some of the procedure might have to be tweaked, but there is a procedure in place. Stepp said he can take the feedback and have another proposal ready for the next meeting. Davis asked how many people this was sent out to? Hamby said to the high schools and elementary, but she isn't sure how many. Davis said if they are going to make decision outside of opinions then why don't they use data and facts? Boston asked what data would he use for a dress code? He said if they are asking people, they should know how many people they are asking, how many responded. Stull said the info received seemed more like a group discussion between the administration and whoever they asked. Davis asked if she could summarize how people she was talking about. Stull said she didn't know. He said that is what he was getting at. Nichols said Stepp could get that for him. Hamby said she did want to make sure it was teachers, assistants and other staff and not only principal feedback. Davis said he thinks they decision-making process he thinks they should use is what is going to help the students learn. Hamby said making teachers more comfortable helped them perform better in the classroom and she had been told that by at least 10 teachers. Davis said he wasn't saying she was wrong, but instead of using hearsay and opinions, let's use data where people have actually ran reports and use that to make a decision, if they can come up with it. Hale asked how he would like to be a kindergarten teacher and wear a 3 pc suit and teach little ones and be on the floor and do all the things that go on in a kindergarten or pre-k classroom. Davis said the parallel she's drawing to his attire has nothing to do with what he's asking. He's asking that they use data to make a decision. He said she's alluding to the fact that the data may not suggest that they wear skinny jeans and shorts too short. He said if the data suggests they learn better underwater, then let's all go swimming. Nichols said there are some that think the original policy is ok. Boston said it should reflect how kids learn. Davis said if they aren't the largest stakeholders in this environment, then he doesn't know who is. Boston said they are. Hamby made a motion to table this again until next month and allow Stepp and his team and get with all 12 schools and get the data from employees. Stull with the second. Motion passed to table. 

Discussion:  Hamby presented this policy and told everyone this was tabled because they had asked for more info from Patton to compare the current Director's contract and this policy to see if they needed to add this policy back to the manual. Patton said he reviewed the current contract, statutes, policy 5.802 which has some lighter language in it concerning evaluations. He said the statute in 5.803 basically says the evaluation plan for the Director of Schools shall include, but is not limited to, sections regarding job performance, student achievement, relationships with staff and personnel, relationships with board members and relationships with the community. He said the current contract, the language used in it says the Board shall annually review the Director's performance as Director of Cumberland County School District. The Director's progress toward goals established by the Board and Director, the working relationships of Director and Board, the staff, students, and the community at large and any other matters relative to the employment of the Director. The evaluation shall be completed by June 1st. Patton said when developing a new contract he would include the new statutory language and the language that's included in TSBA's current policy, regardless of what the Board decides to do with this specific policy. He said the language in the current contract would be consistent with the law simply because it says anything else that's consistent with state law and state law provides the specific areas that you evaluate on. He said he doesn't limit them, they can add others. Hamby then stated there was really no reason to add this policy back into their policy manual at this time. Patton asked if she was asking if it was necessary for this Board to adopt a policy for the evaluation for the Director of Schools? Hamby said she guessed because they had never used this policy. Patton said he understood and Hamby asked should they adopt this policy? Stout asked if there was any reason not to adopt it? Davis asked what the differences in the 2 were? Patton asked if they wanted to know the difference in policy 5.802 and 5.803. Hamby said the district currently has 5.802 but not 5.803. Patton said the only thing that 5.802 says about the evaluation specifically is the evaluation of the Director of Schools, and he wanted to point out that they don't currently have a policy that discusses the evaluation of the Director of Schools and, because of that, they will go by state law. He said he doesn't know that having this policy in place adds anything substantive because the policy essentially says evaluate pursuant to state law. Stout said it looks like they echo a portion of state law in Stepp's current contract, but in looking at the policy for the evaluation of the Director of Schools, it sets what they are striving to accomplish. She said it will add guideline and parameters around the process for the Board and Stepp. Patton said it's up to the Board. He said he does not believe he should give this board his opinion on whether or not a policy should be adopted. He said that's not his role, to be fair. Hamby thanked him for providing the feedback to the Board. Hamby asked for discussion on the matter. Stout said during the workshop this policy came up and Torres with TSBA suggested this was a good policy to have. Stout said she brought it forward because she feels it would be a good addition to have those guidelines in place. Davis said that was his understanding as well. They were going to modify policy to create more objective versus subjective evaluation. Stout said they want to work with the Director and use the measurements set forth in their strategic plan and this policy states that. She said they do not want to use TSBA's evaluation word for word. Hale said the strategic plan changes every 5 years, so does that mean they change the policy every 5 years? Stout said no, but the evaluation might change in order to evaluate the current Director and meet whatever benchmarks they need to meet. She said when she was working her evaluation and goals changed every single year. She said they should change if they are to keep moving forward and striving. The hope is they will achieve the goals they set and set new ones as a district. Stull said she could see the benefits of adding the policy. Stull made the motion to send to full board for adoption and Nichols with the second. 
Stepp told them he had given them all a policy (6.205)  to look at for future reference, but it wasn't listed on the agenda. He quickly went over the out of county zone requests due to TISA funding following the students wherever they go. He wanted to let them know it would be coming up in the future, since the legislature is working on it now. 

Discussion:  Stull made a motion to adjourn policy meeting. Nichols with the second. Policy portion of the meeting was adjourned at approximately 4:32 pm.

Discussion:  Hamby called the Building and Grounds & Safety Committee to order due to Safdie not being present. 

Discussion:  Stull made a motion to approve minutes. Hamby with the second. 

Discussion:  Hamby told the members that the Stone Elementary sign was on the agenda, and she didn't have a lot of info regarding the item because she had been made aware last minute that she would take care of this portion of the meeting. She said she isn't sure why any one would have an issue but opened the floor for discussion. Boston let everyone know the finances were achieved through donations and fundraisers and it would not cost the district anything. Stout said it looks like they choose Flynn Signs over the other bids due to the 5-year warranty. Davis said the second bidder also had a 5-year warranty so how and why did they choose Flynn? Bray said they have done business with Flynn in the past and have been very pleased with their work and service and response in the past. Boston also told him that our policy encourages the district to use local companies when they can. Hamby made a motion to send to full board for approval of the sign. Stull with the second.
At this point in the meeting, Scott Humphrey's made a plea to the Building and Grounds Committee to place a plaque in honor of his deceased ex-wife, Susan Fox Humphrey, in the Crab Orchard music room due to her love and dedication to the Crab Orchard and Pine View music program.  Humphrey's said he will donate the money for half the plaque and asked the Board to provide the finances for the other half. Boston told hiim there was a process and asked him to get with Stepp to proceed. 

Discussion:  Hamby made a motion to adjourn the building and grounds portion and Stull with the second.

Discussion:  Davis called this portion of the meeting to order. 

Discussion:  Stout made a motion to approve minutes and King with the second. 

Discussion:  Davis said he would like to discuss some things over the last year that he has served on this committee. He said they have not voted for committee chairpeople. He asked if this was something that needed to be done. King said for every committee, yes. Davis then asked if it needed to be done now or at a board meeting. King and Hamby replied in the committee. Hamby told him they had to nominate someone on the committee. King nominated Davis to continue to serve as chairman and Stout with the second. Davis accepted. 
Davis said he had talked to Stepp and talked about the idea that collectively, with the right policies and right funding, they can influence the outcome of athletes. He said most recently they've been trying to understand, after collecting data, what obligations the Board supports, one thing being elementary basketball/sports. He said by process of elimination they have determined they are only supporting elementary competitive basketball and a lot of other sports are not being financially supported. He said he had a lot of questions. He said the decision was made to move forward with the current structure of supporting only elementary and not moving forward with middle school. Davis said there were a lot of people present, and he would like to let them all speak individually. 
Boston said they approved TMSAA and asked with what they are being told now, are they now staying with elementary basketball teams? Stepp said yes, that is what he made the decision to do. Boston asked if they would have middle school teams and Stepp said the structure would be set up exactly the same. Every school would have basketball teams. Hamby said she sees there are several present that want to talk, but asked Davis if this information was sent out so that those opposing what he's proposing knew to come and speak? Hamby said she wasn't aware what was on the agenda under old business. Hale said she wasn't either. Hamby said for those wanting to come and speak for elementary basketball, was everyone made aware of what this meeting was going to be about and who could come and speak? Davis said the point of having old business was to bring up some bullet ponit items he had and not talk about the 4 million things that could be brought up. Hamby said her question was, did they have people there that was going to speak for elementary basketball? Davis said he couldn't answer that. Hamby said ok, there was no info put out, and she'd been contacted by several who would love to speak for elementary basketball. Stout said they could come. Hamby said no one knew that's what they were talking about today. Stout said the committee agenda was posted. Hamby said the item "old business" didn't let them know what would be talked about. Davis said it was no different that talking about 18 pages of stuff that wasn't published. Stull said it was very different. She said in the policy meeting the agenda already had the policy they were to discuss on the agenda but under Davis' portion of the athletic agenda there was nothing but approving the minutes. She said old business is something that people cannot prepare for on the fly. Davis said it is old business, it's already been shared and in the other meetings this has already been discussed. Stull said if he knows the topics he is going to talk about it shouldn't be under old business when nothing is listed. The public and board should know what he's going to be discussing otherwise no one is going to be prepared ahead of time and be ready to speak to the items. Stull said he was all over the fact that what they discussed in policy was not on the agenda but the policy was indeed on that portion of the agenda. She said they had no clue what bullet points he wanted to discuss today because he didn't share it with anyone. Stout said her impression was that this was talked about at the last meeting and the people present were there to speak based on what was brought up at the last committee meeting. Davis said correct. Stull said they couldn't have it both ways, they need to let people know what is on the agenda. She said Davis put out an agenda with nothing on it. Davis asked what she would propose happen under old business moving forward. Stull said if anything was going to be discussed, then that needs to be part of the agenda, otherwise old business would cover absolutely anything. Davis asked verbatim? He said Boston said that anything could be put under old business and here they were under old business. Hamby asked how was the public informed on what he planned to discuss? Davis said no one asked him anything about it. He said he didn't have 1 email or 1 question about why his agenda was so vague. Stull said because the agenda looks like he isn't discussing anything. Stout said she doesn't believe it's set up as a discussion. She said she wasn't aware people were going to show up either, but her take is they have come because of what was brought up at the last meeting and anyone can do that. She said they heard from Humphrey's tonight and he wasn't on the agenda and wasn't aware he would want to speak. Stull said the issue is not having people come and speak-they are more than welcome to do that. Stout said they didn't know what the people were here to speak on so that wouldn't go on the agenda. Nichols asked if Davis invited the people to come. Davis said he's answered phone calls for the last 2 years from a number of these people. Boston asked Stepp when the decision was made to keep everything the same. He said this week. Stull said the problem was the agenda portion of the athletic committee was so vague that anyone in the public would know anything that was going to go on in the athletic committee. She said it doesn't matter if they have discussions, he didn't list one thing they were planning to discuss. Davis said when he reads old business that tells him he needs to go back and read all the things they have previously done. Nichols said no, Stull is saying he should have created an agenda to speak about. Stull said he already said he has bullet points he's planning to discuss, they should have shared those on the agenda with the public. He already knew what he wanted to talk about. Davis said she's saying the same thing about all the stuff that he brought up that wasn't on the policy agenda. Hamby and Stull said the documentation was addressing the policy, which was on the agenda. Hamby said they said they were going to discuss the county wide dress code because that dress code policy was on the agenda. She said no where in his agenda does it say what they were discussing. After more back and forth from Davis and Stull, Hamby said it didn't matter-give the public a chance to speak. Stull said it's double-talk and Hamby agreed. Davis said he can do a better job at making a very detailed agenda but he finds he gets raked over the coals for being so specific and taking too much time. Stull told Davis she has no problem with making a detailed agenda, but the problem is if he's going to nitpick about an agenda, he had better make sure his is on point. Davis rebutted with when the meeting starts at 4, be here at 4. Stull said she had already told them she wouldn't be available at that time. She said that has nothing to do with it. Davis said the meeting starts at a certain time and they all have things to do and they have a better chance at moving forward when everyone is there on time. 
At this point Davis opened the floor to several members of the public to speak. There were coaches and parents allowed to voice their opinion on how their decisions on middle school sports-specifically basketball, impact their children. 
*Stacy Spriggs-parent and coach. For middle school basketball. 
*Mike Buck-coach at SMHS. For middle school basketball. 
*Ivy Mayberry-coach. For middle school basketball. 
*Jimmy Spriggs-parent. For middle school basketball. 
*Chris Mosely-parent and coach at NCE. For middle school basketball. 
*Matt Triono-parent and HS coach. For middle school basketball. 
*Courtney McShan-parent. For middle school basketball. 
*Jason Futrell-parent. For middle school basketball. 
Stepp appreciated everyone who came to speak and said any decision he makes, he considers all sides and weighs everything out, weighs out all opinions.  Davis said that was all to be discussed. Humphreys from the media asked Stepp if he was willing to go back after hearing all the comments and change his decision or would the decision be final. Again Stepp appreciated all the comments and said he would take it back to his team. Spriggs asked for a straight answer, a yes or no from him. Stepp said not until he speaks to his team. Boston said the survey that was sent to the coaches, what were those results? Maddox said about 55% in favor of middle school basketball with 45% being opposed. Stull asked for a copy of the survey and Maddox said sure. Mayberry said she isn't sure everyone got it. She had to ask for it twice, and she believes some assistant coaches never received it. Maddox said it went out to the list serve for all the coaches and principals. Stout asked if there were specific questions regarding continuing the elementary and Maddox said yes he could show her the pie chart and questions. Boston asked if they all could get that along with the questions that were asked and Maddox answered yes. King made a motion to adjourn the athletic portion of the agenda and Stout made the second.
Stepp reminded them all that he's available anytime they want to come in and speak to him. Meeting was adjourned at approximately 5:42pm.