April 20, 2020 at 2:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dawn Robinson opened the meeting with a moment of silence and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dawn Robinson read the statement above.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  The secretary, Julie Smith, took roll.  

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dr. Dyer provided an update:

• He hopes we won't have to meet virtually too many more times.
• He wants to thank the Board for renewing his contract.  He loves working with the school board, employees, and families.  
• It's an interesting time to be in business right now with COVID-19.  None of us have ever experienced this before, and he believes everyone is performing at a top level.  Our staff is busier now, than when our students are in the building.  I am on an academics superintendent engagement committee, and we are focusing on what we need to think about going into the fall.  
• The Argentina trip was a great trip, but it was cut short because of COVID-19 and the European travel ban.  None of the students or teachers were affected by COVID-19.  
• Last week we had a visit from Commissioner Schwinn.  She came to a Google hangout with Autumn O'Bryan and all of the seniors. We had a great hangout with her and the seniors.
• He has been selected from our area to serve on TOSS board to represent the superintendents from this region and the term will start this summer.  He has also been asked to serve on the governing board of AASA.  He will be one of two representatives.  There is not a lot of travel with this position, but more emails and phone calls.  He is proud to represent Cleveland City Schools in this format.
• Recently we dealt with a tornado hitting this area.  The school system has helped the community clean up debris from the storm, and deliver food to the affected areas.  He went and helped some students/staff to clean up.  We have had some staff effected by the tornado, we keep them in our thoughts and prayers.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dr. Jeff Elliott gave an update on the academic response to COVID-19.  Over the last month the teachers have been busy preparing lessons and providing a learning opportunity in the homes.  We worked with our academic teams and on March 16 we got organized to launch our website for online learning, and access for printable packets.  On March 23 we launched our at home learning project, www.ccsathomelearning.com.  We are on our 5th week now.  Our teachers are able to upload weekly lessons, and we can upload those on the weekends to be available for the next week.  Our goal is to provide as much support for our families as possible.  We know this is a stressful time now, but we wanted to give our families resources to access our teachers as well as planning.  The first week our teachers did a survey by calling all of our students to see what their needs are regarding food needs, and access to the internet. He is proud of the team and the work they are doing.  We are still providing learning opportunities and are looking forward toward the future when our students return and how to provide intervention services the students may need.  

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Gena Reed gives an update on school nutrition and COVID-19.  When COVID-19 hit it was Spring Break for our school system.  Gena contacted Dr. Dyer to see if they could serve students meals.  Gena was working Bradley County Schools School Nutrition Director, Emily Brown, as well.  She thanks Dr. Dyer for allowing them to start this feeding program.  To date they have served 73,000 meals to children 18 and younger.  They have served close to 11,800 fresh fruit and vegetable snacks as well.  They have $2,500 grant come in already from the Dairy Alliance.  They used this grant for insulated containers to deliver food.  First Baptist has donated items, and we appreciate them.  We have $8,000 of funding in DOD Funding through USDA to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables.  She thanks Hal and his transportation team to make this possible.  There is another grant opportunity out there through Gen Youth, for $12,000.  They have had several members of the nutrition staff effected by the tornado.  They took some time off but are now back at work.  They are using their masks and social distancing to keep everyone safe.

Board Members thank the Cleveland City Schools staff, especially Hal and Gena and their staff, for all the hard work and effort put into this COVID-19 adjustment.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dr. Dyer gives an overview of the attachment for the 2019-2020 adjusted academic calendar.

• As of now the official end of this school year is May 22, 2020.  This proposal will make May 8, 2020 the last day of classes for seniors who have completed all of their required course work, and are ready to graduate.  If there are seniors who still need to continue to get their work completed, they can continue to work until the day of graduation.  We are proposing May 15, 2020 to be the last day for K-11 grades.  The final week of school, May 18-22, 2020, will be for professional development classes for our teachers to get ready for next fall.  The focus this summer will be on remediation services.
• The last week of school we will be switching out laptops.  We need to get our chromebooks back from our students, and our MacBook's back from our teachers so we can switch those out for new ones.  
• Nutrition services will continue until May 22, 2020.  The normal summer feeding program will start May 28, 2020.  

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  TSBA has been active and up to date.  These policies are only for this 2019-2020 academic school year. There will be an email go out tomorrow to summarize the policies and provide links to them.
Quick Summary of the Policies:
*Policy 4.600- Grading System: March 20 is the final dates that grades can count for this year in the state of TN, but for Cleveland City Schools March 6 would be our final date since we went on Spring Break.  If a student is happy with their grade as of March 6 then that will be their grade.  But, if they want to improve their grade they can.  Their grade cannot go down.
*Policy  4.6005 -Graduation Requirements:  Class of 2020 there is only 20 credits are required to graduate with the state of Tennessee, but for a CHS diploma the requirement is 26 credits.  ACT/SAT/Civics Exam/EOC end of year exams are no longer required.  Students receiving the occupational diploma for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years will only be required to have 1 year of work experience.
*Policy 4.700- Testing Program:  No TCAPS are required spring 2020.
*Policy 5.109- Administrative/Teacher Evaluations:  These will be waived this year.  No student data this school year will be allowed to negatively affect an evaluation.
*Policy 5.802- Change the qualifications/duties of Directors of Schools.  He can request an extension from the state board to report information on teacher licensure issues.
*Policy 6.200- Students may not be penalized for non-attendance of online courses. 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  We are doing a first and final reading of all policies today from the TSBA. 
*Policy 1.8011: Emergency Closings.  TSBA has added a section on employee responsibilities.  In the event of an emergency we can continue to pay employees.  
*Policy 5.115.1: Telework during emergencies.  This is a new policy.  
*Policy 5.3051: Families First Coronavirus Response Act. This act is active from April 1, 2020 until December 31, 2020.  It discusses paid sick leave, as well as expanded FMLA leave.

Clarification: Policy 1.8011 and Policy 5.115.1 will go into effect immediately once they are voted for and will stay in effect.  Policy 5.3051 will only be in effect once voted for from April 1, 2020 until December 31, 2020.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dr. Dyer discusses the Cleveland City Schools 2020-2021 Proposed Budget.  Tomorrow this budget document will be sent to the City for approval.  We are still waiting on the final BEP to come from the state in July. Dr. Dyer discussed the Slide Show.  We are able to fund the step increase for employees who qualify.  Dr. Dyer's recommendation at this point is to not put a percentage rate increase for salaried employees, however he is hopeful to look at a bonus or percentage increase for our employees later in the year.  TCRS rate decreased for certified staff, TCRS rate for support staff remains the same.  No increase budgeted for health insurance for FY 2021.  The budget includes: ELA Adoption K-5, Debt Service, School allocations, Apptegy-new website, and BCPEF.  Update on the BLADE project - Teacher Apple MacBook Laptops K-12, Grades 6-12 Chromebooks, additional increase for additional chromebooks as our population of students increased.  Estimated Budget Summary- Revenues $50,456,913.  Expenditures $51,154,913.  Use of fund Balance $698,000.  Dr. Dyer wants everyone to know we have a healthy fund balance.  The Board thanks Cindy for all of her hard work, especially during these times. There was discussion on whether every student 6-12 had access to a laptop.  Dr. Dyer assured them all students had access.  The board members wondered if all students' had access to Wi-Fi.  Dr. Dyer said not all students had this in their home, but there were options out there from the community and schools to allow the students access to Wi-Fi.

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  We are continuing to work on the strategic plan, but this plan is going to be restructured, just as the state is restructuring their strategic plan because of COVID-19.  School will look different next year when we come back in the fall.  The items that won't change are Academic Excellence, Articulated Pathways, Portrait of a Graduate, Safe and Healthy Schools, Capturing Kids Heart, Communications, and Engaged workforce. We still want to focus on our 3 words of Educate, Innovate, Elevate.  

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  From a student's prospective, the teachers have done a very good job at giving work but not over loading the students.  I have spoken with my teachers every day, if not by phone but by email.  He thinks it is going as smooth as possible.  

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Steve Morgan reports that the chiller is up and running.  Hal went and they have full air conditioning at the high school.  They will be starting on the cooling tower since we don't have  any students at the school.  

Steve Morgan's statement - When he ran for the School Board in 2008 and was approached to run for the school board by Max Carroll he wondered  "why would I run".  He had 2 daughters in the system at the time.  After some prayer he has decided he will not be running for the 2020 at large nomination for the Cleveland City School Board.  He promised to be a positive addition to the body, and he hopes he did that.  He has learned a lot, and he hopes the community is better because he got the privilege to serve.
 

Discussion (Visible on Public Minutes):  Dawn Robinson wanted it to be noted that Cleveland City Schools is privileged and honored to have Dr. Dyer to work for us.  She knows it takes a team, but it still takes a leader.  She heard he was out in the community after the tornado, and she is glad he was leading by example.  She also wants to point out that Gena Reed, Hal Taylor, Jeff Elliott, Kelly Kiser, and Julie Smith (along with many others in our system) have done an amazing job during this COVID-19 time.  She also wanted to remind everyone of the board meeting dates for May and June.

Steve Morgan would like to thank Kelly Kiser for being on this meeting since his father passed away yesterday.  

Dawn adjourned the meeting by general consent.