Board of Education - Regular Meeting

I call this meeting to order. This is the June 15th, 2026 meeting of the Williamson County Board of Education. Board members, I'm going to ask you to record your attendance, please.

Twelve members present.

Thank you. All right, everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the moment of silence. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. You may be seated. Before we go to our public comment period, I want to acknowledge a guest from another school board, a neighboring school board, June Herron from the Hickman County School Board. Would you raise your hand and wave? Hi, June. She's here doing a project for her TSBA training. Is that correct? All right. Welcome to our meeting. Thank you. Um, okay. We will now move into our public comment period. We, uh, we have 12 individuals who've signed up to speak. Uh, I'm going to allow each person up to three minutes. You will have, um, you will notice, uh, some of you are familiar with this, that on the podium, there's a monitor that will keep track of your time. Please pay attention to that, uh, as you're speaking, uh, so that we don't run over. I'm going to call the first two. Um, then I'll call two at a time. After that, the first two speakers are David sensing and Sarah Ritchie.

I think I'm a little overdressed. Good evening, school board. My name is David Sensing. I am president of the Lieutenant Andrew Crockett Chapter of Sons of the American Revolution. Our chapter is the only chapter that meets in Williamson County, and I'm proud to say we are the largest in the state of Tennessee. I have a few young friends with me. They attend Oak View Elementary School here in Williamson County. Our chapter is very involved in promoting patriotism throughout Williamson County. One of our biggest events is in a few short days where we read the Declaration of Independence. They're at five points. This year, with it being America 250, it's gonna be big. We're gonna have Chief Faulkner and a bunch of other community leaders reading the Declaration of Independence so that people can hear the words that changed the world 250 years ago. The reason I'm here this evening is to talk to you about a Patriot Chess program that we've developed. It's a hands-on history program geared mainly for elementary kids where we've collected several items from over 200 years ago. We use these items to teach history and life in colonial times. We teach the American Revolution. Our presenters, they come in uniforms like this. Usually there's two or three of us. We teach the kids how to fold a flag, and we even give them an unsigned copy of the Declaration of Independence so that they can sign it and keep it as a souvenir for their school. We would love to bring this to Williamson County Schools. In the past year, I've presented this over a dozen times, most recently at the Tennessee State Museum. They were very receptive and very complimentary of the program. So I won't take up too much more of your time, but my Patriot chest will be on display July 4th, and I would love to see you all there. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Hey, everybody. I hate speaking in front of people, but I'm doing this. I'm Dr. Sarah Ritchie. I'm a clinical neuropsychologist in private practice in Brentwood, and I specialize in evaluating neurodevelopmental disorders, which includes autism and ADHD and dyslexia. I've done over 3,800 evaluations in nearly two decades of practice, and I've been on the advisory board of Best Buddies Tennessee for about eight years. I go into my office every day thinking, how can I help a child, and how can I help a family? I'm here today to advocate for my patient of 15-plus years, Sam Davis, and his mom is Courtney Davis over there. and children like him who just want to be included and valued. After an incident last year, we discovered the limitations in the school's ability to impose meaningful consequences for bullies who target kids with disabilities. As a society, you know we're facing unprecedented entitlement, unfettered access to screens, and video games replacing social connection. Kids chasing the fleeting thrill of bursts of likes on social media, fueling an unsustainable need for external validation. From a clinical perspective, kids with ODD and conduct disorder, diagnosed or not, they do not respond to consequences like we do. They target who they see as weak or easy prey with little to no remorse or expectation for consequences. Actual or threat of video proof is typically the only thing that works for them. And even then, the weight of their transgressions falls differently on them. WKRN reported Williamson County is the third in the state for bullying, and I found two alarming data points related to cases specifically involving students with disabilities. Our number of cases involving disabilities is over four times higher than the state of Tennessee's total. And we also have a strangely low number of confirmed cases to reported cases, only 23%. For example, Shelby County has 72% and Metro Nashville has 84%. Are there that many frivolous cases here or is there an undercurrent of trying to keep numbers as low as possible to maintain a stellar image? Children with intellectual disabilities can't always verbally or otherwise report bullying. Many don't even realize that they're being bullied because they can't discern subtle ill intent that someone has for them. That requires higher order problem solving, reasoning, and generalizability, spontaneous recall of past experiences, and what adults have taught them about personal safety and friendships. So we have to advocate for them and navigate with them. While we work to get Tennessee to include protected groups in their anti-bullying laws, more preventative measures regarding phone access during school hours and stronger consequences for students who target special needs kids should be certainly on the county's agenda, in my opinion.

Thank you. Our next two speakers are Courtney Davis and Bill Barksdale.

Good evening. My name is Courtney Davis. Thank you for the opportunity to speak at this meeting. I'm a nurse anesthetist with 20 years of experience in the most critically ill of patients, but tonight I'm here as a parent. I'm here to tell my son's story in hopes of bringing awareness to the gaps in school safety, specifically in protecting our vulnerable population. My husband and I have three kids. Our oldest son, Sam, is affected by level two autism. Two years ago, we moved from Memphis to Franklin to specifically give Sam more long-term opportunities. Sam now proudly attends Franklin High School and is a valued member of Franklin's JROTC, carrying the flag with the color guard at the football games. You may have seen a beautiful write-up about him in the Williamson Herald this past December. Sam also participates in United Sound, Best Buddies, Young Life Capernaum, and West End's youth group. The culture of Franklin High School has been one of inclusion and celebration. Sam went from a learning center in Memphis of 85 students to Franklin High School with over 1700 students and truly looks forward to going to school. He calls it his teenage school. This past December, that safety and security was stolen from Sam. He was a victim of bullying, harassment, and unlawful photography in the bathroom at school. As you can imagine, this is a parent's nightmare. Sam's innocence and trust in his school was stolen from him. The entire experience was heartbreaking. The administration of Franklin High School acted promptly and vigilantly, and I have the utmost respect and gratitude for Dr. Pantel. This event affected Sam in the same way it would affect any other victim. He was visibly distressed, sweating, not sleeping, and confused. We then spent the next several months processing this with his therapist and the court system. Not only did it affect Sam, it affected his siblings who love him fiercely. Williamson County so proudly states that student safety is their utmost priority. Is it really? Does this include just physical safety or does it include the mental toll of bullying and harassment? Currently, the administration has very little authority to implement any effective consequence on this type of action. Our neighbors down the road in Cookville have taken phones out of schools. Most all private schools in Tennessee have done the same. There is truly no need for phones during school hours. If kids need to message their parents, they can do so from their laptops. We can do better. For a county that is so proud to be the best in education, let's protect our kids and at least protect the students who cannot protect themselves. Thank you for listening.

Thank you.

Good evening, I'm Bill Barksdale, Williamson County resident and parent of two Williamson County students, one in special education. I want to start with a thank you. When my daughter was in high school here in Nolensville, a boy would not leave her alone. She asked him to stop. He didn't. When she moved tables at lunch, he followed. When she left the lunchroom entirely, he followed her there too. She used this district's bullying reporting process, the rules this board put in place, and to the district's credit, it stopped immediately. A board member said last month that reports are up because the reporting works. I believe that. Those rules taught a boy that it's not okay to harass a woman, and they taught my daughter that it's okay to stand up for herself, so thank you for that. I tell that story because it's what the district looks like when it follows its own rules. Now I want to show you what it looks like when it doesn't. For months, the district has justified consolidating the transition to program by pointing to post-school outcomes, what the state calls indicator 14. So I pulled the latest state's report from 2024. Williamson County exceeds every indicator 14 target, every single one, no required actions. The data, the district sites salt, no problems to solve. So we asked twice what data does support the T2 consolidation at our IEP meeting on May 7th, a district specialist told us, quote, we didn't have any data to show what supports that. On June 1st, the director of special education told me, quote, could I give you a sheet of paper that says this is the data that's going to support the hub locations? No. Two officials, two meetings, same answer. The district calls this a pilot board members. If you were told this is a pilot, you were misled. A pilot defines a success criteria before it begins. This one has none by the district's old admission on the record. The metrics quote, haven't been developed. And the December review and promised relies on outcome data that by the director's own admission cannot exist until after these students have exited the program and evaluation that cannot return results before the next move is made is not a pilot. It is a phase one of a forced relocation and pilot is the word chosen to move it past this board. And here's the indicator. The district never mentions indicator 13. Transition IEP compliance, 49% against the target of 100%, the lowest possible score. A formal notice of noncompliance from the state. This district is reorganizing the thing the state says is working and ignoring the formal findings on the thing the state says is broken. So I'm asking for action, not sympathy. Number one, demand the Indicator 13 corrective action plan, and number two, demand the databases for this consolidation if it exists. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next two speakers are Brad Davis and Bonnie Barksdale.

Mr. Golden, Mr. Welch, in May, I shared with the board my analysis of the most recent Tennessee Department of Education's bullying and harassment report. You both stated that my analysis defied common sense, and Mr. Welch, you went further and said that by sharing it, I destroyed my credibility.

Mr. Chair.

My analysis was simple. I was looking at... Let him finish, please. I'm sorry. I kind of lost some time, so, to the interruption.

Let's just pause the clock for a second and let him restart.

Thank you.

But I would ask you to please just direct your comments generally, not to any specific board member, if you don't mind. My apologies. Thank you.

A board member went further and said that by sharing it, I destroyed my credibility. My analysis was simple. I looked at just one column in the report, the one titled Total Cases Indicating Bullying Occurred. According to that metric, Williamson County had the fourth highest number of confirmed bullying instances out of all 147 districts in Tennessee. Next, knowing we're one of the larger districts, I used the US News and World Reports to identify all districts in Tennessee with greater than 38,000 students. Finally, from among the largest districts, I calculated the bullying rate per student by dividing the number of confirmed cases by the student population. According to that metric, per student, we had the second highest rate of confirmed bullying in the entire state. For those of you who doubt my analysis, Did anyone conduct a similar analysis of this data before publicly declaring that my findings defied common sense and destroyed my credibility? One of my greatest regrets as a father was sending my nine-year-old daughter to school in tears just days after she'd been attacked and her life was threatened by another student at a time when I naively believed our district was fully committed to protecting all students. Only days later, the same student with a well-documented history of violence and threats targeted another one of the girls he had threatened to murder. He saw her alone in the hallway and he called out our name, Ashley, Ashley. And when she looked in his direction, If you don't believe my story or the parents who shared this year, even tonight, do you not also believe the story of your colleague, Dr. Driggers shared at February's board meeting? He told us about a child in his district who was in class with one of the many students in our system who can violently erupt at any moment, forcing teachers to evacuate the entire class to protect other children. Dr. Driggers shared that this ongoing behavior of the student has caused this girl such severe psychological damage that she's now receiving professional mental health treatment simply to cope with having to spend 35 hours a week in the same class with him. It's one thing for a district to dismiss anecdotal stories of parents and board members. It's something else entirely to ignore official data our state has been collecting since 2013. Data that shows clearly where we stand when compared to other districts. I'd love to share my full analysis with the entire board, with anyone who finds them hard to believe. What do you have to lose? If I'm wrong, these issues aren't real and I've simply wasted a lot of time this year shining a light on a problem that never existed. But if I'm right, then you get the opportunity to use the strength of your appointed and elected positions to protect children so they can better learn. Critics of my findings have nothing to lose and our children have everything to gain. I hope you'll let me share my findings with you.

Thank you.

Good evening, I'm Dr. Bonnie Barksdale, Blake Riley's mother, T2 Nolensville High. I want to tell you about my son. Blake wants to work at Publix. We know it's a possibility because at our Publix there's a man named Gregory, an adult with special needs. He bags groceries, he chats everyone up when you go in the store. Every time we see him, we see a possible Blake future. And there is a brand new Publix less than a mile from Nolensville High School. On opening day, Blake insisted that we go, and he told everyone in that store, I'm going to work here. His community is Nolensville. This district's own estimate of Blake's bus ride to Ravenwood is 35 to 55 minutes each way. And in their words, it could be more. By their own numbers, Blake could spend more time on the bus than at the job site the bus exists to reach. And whether his program continues at his home school at all is something the district said they're toying with the idea. Toying, that's their word for decisions about students who can least afford uncertainty. His community is also his people. One of his aides, Miss Robin, has been with him for years and is with him when he walked across the stage to get his diploma. She moved the transition to specifically to stay with him, but she cannot follow him to Ravenwood. Last month, this board praised our love our special education staff bring to this work. Robin is that love, and this plan punishes them both for it. I teach my students at MTSU how a records request is supposed to work. Let me show you how the district handled mine. When I asked to inspect my son's records, the district sent me three boxes of paper. As an example, this is what was provided. These are behavioral spreadsheets printed, 1,000 pages. We asked twice for these digital files. They refused. This is not compliance. This is obstruction with a cover sheet. We should not have to file a state complaint to read our own son's records. Federal Regulation 3-4 CFR 300-116C presumed a child attends a school he would attend if he were not disabled. For Blake, that is Nolensville. So here is the only question that matters, not whether the district wants him at Ravenwood, but whether anyone ever has shown that he needs to be there. They haven't. Federal law already chose Blake's school. The district just decided to ignore it. Thank you.

Next two speakers are, excuse me, Elliot Franklin and Ricky Rodriguez.

Good evening. Elliot Franklin, District 10. This week, the Williamson Herald ran a piece on our mental health crisis. Williamson County, of course, we know is the wealthiest county in the state, top schools, yet we have the second highest suicide rate in Tennessee. You know the research. This is nothing new. Decades of school data show that unrestricted phone access during the school day is driving anxiety, depression, and social conflict. Schools that go phone-free report certainly fewer behavioral issues and less bullying. Thank you for passing the cell phone policy last year and I appreciate Mr. Galbraith and Dr. Reeves bringing up at the work session last week the issue of the cell phone policy moving forward. I understand from the pilot that the clear desk pocket one and the teachers preferred it. 74% of high school students had zero violations and I think it would be great if we could lock that in before August. Certainly we know that doesn't solve the hallway launch other times during the day and that would have to be a phase two. That's where companies like Yonder comes in. Yonder provides individual magnetic pouches that the students use when they arrive, stays locked all day. Nobody manage it, not teachers, not the administrators. The phone stays with the student, and for high schoolers, if we did the lunch access, you put an unlocking station near the cafeteria, they tap in, they tap out. The district controls the stations. The district controls access. Cost is $25 to $30 per student, fully implemented, and they have a 50% matching grant program. I'd love to see a local business put their name on those pouches. Park City, Utah did that. Community Partners funded the entire program. So my ask tonight, if you would consider to suspend the rules and place this item on the agenda to implement this pouch solution before August and then direct the administration to evaluate a solution such as yonder for a January rollout so we have a full solution by the second semester. Give our kids a phone-free school and give our teachers their classrooms back, thank you.

Good evening, Williamson County leadership, board members, Dr. Golden. My name is Ricky Rodriguez. I'm the head football coach at Ravenwood High School and an educator of 15 years. I'm here to advocate for the addition of an athletic period within our Williamson County high schools. The benefits extend far beyond sports. First, an athletic period directly supports student mental and physical health. Today, students face unprecedented levels of stress, anxiety, and screen time. Providing a structured period during the school day for physical activity gives students a healthy outlet to reduce stress, improve mood, build confidence, and develop lifelong wellness habits. Research consistently shows that physical activity improves concentration, memory, and classroom behavior while reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression. Second, an athletic period helps us retain and attract outstanding coaches and teachers in our school district. Many neighboring districts and high-performing programs provide athletic periods that allow coaches to keep leadership, strengthen conditioning, and sport-specific drills during the school day. Without similar opportunities, we risk losing talented educators and coaches to districts that offer greater support for their athletic programs. Using our football program specifically, we have lost six members of our community over the last year to rival county districts because of this exact stance. Finally, athletic periods support academic success. Studies have found that increasing physical activity during the school day does not harm academic performance and can actually improve student focus, attendance, and GPA. One comprehensive review found that schools increasing physical activity often saw small gains in academic achievement, despite dedicating less time to traditional classroom instruction. Additionally, recent research found student athletes had approximately 20% fewer absences than their peers, demonstrating stronger engagement with schools. An athletic period is simply not an investment in athletics. It's an investment in healthier students, stronger academic outcomes, and the recruitment and retention of exceptional educators. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you.

Next two speakers are Melissa Hogan and Josh Adkins.

Hi, my name is Melissa Hogan, parent to T2 Page High School student Case Hogan. I'm here again tonight regarding the transition to clustering proposal. Following the May 18th meeting, I received the results of my records request from the district. The findings are deeply concerning and I emailed each of you with more specifics. They reveal a lack of planning, an absence of supporting data, and a troubling disconnect between the district leadership and the special education professionals actually teaching in this program. First, we're now hearing from district leadership that at least for 2627 clustering will likely be a choice and being treated as a pilot. However, parents have only received the original clustering mandate in writing. It is impossible for families to make an informed decision for their children based on verbal walkbacks and a lack of clarity on what will exist at their homeschool because the district doesn't know for sure who will go there. Further about, as I've said previously, a true pilot requires predefined objectives, measurement criteria, and data collection methodologies. My records request yielded zero impact studies, budget analyses, or feasibility reports. Major special education decisions are being made without a single piece of evidence-based data, the cornerstone of special education. District leadership told me they looked at other programs and have notes, but none of these were provided in my records request, and there appears to have been no analysis of the pros and cons and strengths and weaknesses of options in deciding to overhaul a special education program. This is a severe leadership and oversight issue. Second, in the April meeting with parents, district leadership explicitly told parents that T2 teachers asked for clustering. The district's own records prove otherwise. The documents I received showed teachers expressing grave concerns as far back as December. One teacher wrote, I have significant concerns about removing students from their home communities. Another stated, why were teachers not included in planning this change? How can we have trust in leadership when they will not admit that this was a lie the teachers asked for clustering? Third, the district's narrow goal seems to be increasing post-secondary job or higher education placement through instructional differentiation and an increase in job site time. This is a lot of cause and hope for effects without any actual evidence to back it up. Regarding job site time, many T2 teachers believe this is largely a problem caused by an insufficient number of buses and an over-reliance on the Franklin trolley system. Instead of uprooting vulnerable students and stripping away the localized support, we should be identifying and solving the root issues that are creating these challenges in the T2 program. I urge the following actions. First, require the administration to put the exact 26-27 T2 plan in writing, immediately detailing facility space, staffing, and transportation solutions. Second, enforce a formal pause on the clustering proposal and third demand a transparent, inclusive evaluation of the teaching program. One with clear objectives and alternative models that actively includes teachers and parents who actually navigate this system. Thank you for your time and commitment to our students.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Josh Atkins, educator and head football coach of Franklin High School. I would like to thank the board for taking time to hear comments on the possibility of implementing an athletic period in Williamson County. Having taught and coached in districts with and without athletic periods, I've experienced both approaches firsthand and have personally witnessed the positive impact that incorporating an athletic period can have on a student-athlete. Having athletic period during the school days allows students time to participate in team study halls, hold meetings, start practice early, among many other possibilities. Implementing an athletic period each day would allow athletes more time after practice for academic studies, designated time to mentally decompress, and additional time to rest and recover for the next day. Having this period in place allows coaches and athletes to be flexible and more invested in their programs academically as well as athletically. Another prominent benefit of the athletic period is there will be less issues with travel. Many Williamson County teams play opponents far enough away that leaving school early is the only option, creating a conflict with students' class schedules. Having an athletic period at the end of the day would ensure they're not missing valuable instructional time in the classroom. In comparison, three of the surrounding counties with whom Williamson County high schools typically compete already have an athletic period in place for their student-athletes. This provides those students with a significant competitive edge, both academically and athletically, over our own students in Williamson County. It may seem that it would take a lot of moving pieces to make this happen, but with the help from the administrators, collaboration from school counselors, and, of course, approval from the board, we can maintain and surpass our academic and athletic dominance in the state. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Our final two speakers are Rocco Penaia and Allie Lifsey.

Thank you all very much. I'm speaking on behalf of just a parent of a child at Franklin High School and the athletic period. And first of all, thank you all for everything that you do for our school system. I know it is something that you all do from your heart, and so keep doing that. You know, I think having this athletic period and having it considered by you all is something that's important. I know for my children that have all participated in athletics at Franklin High School, my last one's coming up right now, you know, coming home late at night at 10 o'clock, 10.30, 11 o'clock from rolling in and they have two hours' worth of schoolwork, it can be a little much for them. making sure they get their eight hours of sleep is not always going to be happening. And I think this is something that could possibly add to our school system. And to reiterate what Coach Atkins just said, I just strongly consider. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Okay. Last month I spoke about my third graders experience with her Chromebook since kindergarten. But tonight I want to talk about how the districts make decisions about technology. I've served on the screen time and technology use committee for a year, and I've read the board's feedback on our work. Mr. Bostic felt like the cell phone policy didn't go far enough and largely maintains the status quo. Mr. Galbraith felt the committee structure and composition made its recommendations predictable. Ms. Reeves felt like the framework for determining whether technology meaningfully enhances learning is too subjective. And Ms. Hema noted that because administration led the process, the restrict the resulting framework leaves technology embedded as a structural default in our schools. And you're all correct. I agree with every single one of you besides being a mom, I'm also pediatric ICU nurse. And in the hospital, we practice evidence-based medicine. We only offer interventions when careful analysis shows that the benefits outweigh the risks. When my children started school, I assumed technology decisions would follow the same standard. And I've been really surprised and disappointed to learn that they don't. I want to be precise about language here because I expect to hear that the committee was given a lot of data and that's true. We received survey responses about how families feel about technology, Chromebook usage minutes by grade lists of apps. and a framework called PICRAP meant to help us judge whether technology enhances learning, a framework I raise concerns about because it relies on subjective judgment and not outcome data. That's a lot of information, but none of it is evidence. Evidence tells you whether something works, whether it improves learning outcomes. None of what we received tells us whether a child learns to read, write, or think better with a Chromebook than without one. What's been most frustrating to me isn't just the absence of evidence, but the resistance to pulling back, even when evidence points that way, without a clear explanation of why. And I'm not asking for resistance to disappear. I'm just asking to understand it. If there are real constraints, logistical or financial or instructional, that make scaling back difficult, I want to know specifically what they are, because I cannot help solve a problem that I can't see. Right now, it feels like the committee is being asked to work around barriers that nobody will plainly name. Where robust evidence exists, our decision should follow it, and I have yet to see quality, objective evidence that technology is essential to learning. In fact, I've seen the opposite, along with a well-documented list of risks. If we were in a hospital, we would never continue an intervention that carries real risk and little to no benefit, so why are we doing it here with our kids? I'm asking this board to be brave where evidence doesn't support the risk, scale the intervention back accordingly. Our kids deserve evidence or deserve decisions built on evidence and not inertia. And by the way, I don't know anyone else that commented tonight. I did not coordinate with them. And a lot of them are pointing out a lack of evidence-based decision-making that really feels like a pattern and we can do better.

Thank you. And I want to say thank you to all of our speakers for tonight for being here. I also want to thank deputies mock and Purcell for being here tonight. Thank you, sir. Gentlemen. Um, okay. We're going to move into the next item on our agenda. Item number three. which is the superintendent contract review and extension. As we talked about at the work session by statute, this item has to appear as our first voting item. So that is why it's placed where it is on the agenda. In order to get this on the floor for discussion, I'm going to make the motion for a one year extension of Mr. Golden's contract. Is there a second? We have a motion in a second. We'll fight for who gets the motion. It's all good. Okay. Mr. Golden, I'm going to turn it over to you to give any initial comments that you want to regarding the contract, and then we'll open it up for comments from the board.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I want to reiterate what you mentioned when you first spoke related to our public comment. Traditionally, I speak to some of the public commenters immediately after they make public comment because we typically transition to the superintendent's report. I do want to make sure everyone knows that the superintendent report will come, but again, as you said, the law actually requires that any vote related to a superintendent's contract be the first voting item of the agenda. So with that, I did want to board members reiterate to you some of what I spoke to at the work session. That a year ago, I actually had said, let's not talk about an extension of my contract. I want us to spend some time really doing the work and building our relationships and building trust right pretty soon after an election cycle. Strictly speaking, the way Tennessee structures their superintendent's contracts, the longest a superintendent's contract can go is four years. Currently my contract is at two years based on my request that you all did not discuss it this past year. I will tell you, as we spoke to at the work session, I am asking for a one-year extension of my contract. What I see in our work is pretty extraordinary. We are by many measures outdoing ourselves, not just outdoing our neighbors, but outdoing ourselves. And so many examples, we're doing the best we ever have. We have room to grow, and we've been working through those opportunities with that room to grow. Some of the public commenters that you've heard speak to those opportunities for growth. We know from our leadership team that those opportunities are there. The most telling example is the work we did when we started with my work as superintendent, having direct conversations with high school students about bullying because we had actually seen what appeared to us anecdotally a reduction in reports when we would hear second or third hand there might have been an issue. And we intentionally set up a structure where students could trust to report to us. That has led to some of those statistical examples that were actually one of which was mentioned today of 23% being found to actually be bullying because we are creating an environment where students are reporting. That needs continued work to make sure that the interventions that you hear about really make a difference for students. Instructionally, you all know that we are growing students like never before, those evidences that we've given you. We have a great team. The work is complex. We have 42,000 students. We have somewhere around 4,200 teachers, and we have an excellent leadership team. Some of our principals are sitting right here today, and they are the proverbial boots on the ground putting in place what we work on. So I do ask for that one year extension because I think we're doing a great job, but we still have room to grow. We know where we are and we know those opportunities for growth. And with this leadership, I think that we can continue to run that ground in an efficient way and continue to grow where we are. So thank you all for your consideration.

Thank you, Mr. Golden. Okay, let's open it up for comments, questions from the board. Dr. Johnson.

So at the work session on Thursday, I brought up a concern about the 24-month severance package, specifically in his contract. I also have some other concerns that I just want to talk about. First, the contract was originally negotiated in 2019 when the majority of this current board was not serving. The salary listed in the original contract is $270,504. Today, his salary is $355,853. And so that amount is not reflected in the contract. And so that's a concern I have. The second concern is about the 24-month severance provision. Not just that it's in there, but there's also no limiting language about lesser of the severance package or the remaining of the contract term. So that means, because we're getting a new board in September, if something were to happen, you know, and he only has a year and a half left on his contract. He's still going to get paid out two years because that language is missing from the current contract. Third, you know, this vote is being considered immediately before a new board is formed. I believe that the incoming board members should have an opportunity to have input on this a decision because they'll be serving beside him for the next three years. If it passes, um, of course I've gotten feedback from many constituents expressing concerns about extending the contract. And as an elected representative, you know, I believe it's important for me to consider those per sec per perspectives. Um, and this year when I did my evaluation, I went back and looked at last year's evaluation so that I could compare the two. There were some things that I put in last year's evaluation materials that I just don't see sufficient evidence that those concerns were adequate adequately addressed. And you know, that also weighs heavily in my consideration for a contract extension. Um, the final thing I would say is, um, I know the audience may not see it, but we actually have an attached directive around policy six, 0.312 because, um, basically board members didn't feel that that policy was, is being implemented, um, to the standard that we expect. So with all those concerns, and like I said, I brought it up Thursday and I talked about a contact contract renegotiation. I didn't get a lot of information. So I reached out to Ben Torres at TSBA. And, and like, what are, what are our options? And so basically he said, we have three options. We could, you know, vote. Yes, we can do the vote. We can vote. Yes, we can vote. No. The third option was, um, making a motion to postpone the consideration of the contract extension. So given all those options, I think a win-win situation here is I, I formally make a motion to postpone. consideration of the contract extension until the September board meeting. And it has to be the September board meeting because of the blackout period around the election. So we couldn't do that in August. However, Ben said we could like look at renegotiating pieces of the contract for the vote in September and it would allow input from the newly elected board before the final decision is made. So I'm putting that motion out there. about postponing consideration of the contract extension until September.

Okay, there is a motion on the floor to amend the one-year extension motion. Is there a second? Seconded. I'm sorry? Seconded. Okay, we have a second. Is there any discussion on the motion to defer? Ms. Clements?

Yes, I was, um, I've been thinking about this and I was kind of going along the same path. Um, I feel like if we vote tonight to extend the contract, that's obligating a new board to an extra year where if we could vote in September, the new board who I'm sure has been watching all along, those board members could make that commitment. And I feel like that's a cleaner path. Um, I've also been looking at the growth metrics, um, you know, between our evaluation scores last year and our evaluation scores this year from the school board. Um, it was flat and, um, with that being said i am thankful for some of the goals that superintendent golden made for the next year and i'm excited about that where he has talked about the least restrictive environment and providing an opportunity there for the elementary schools to have a place there i've also appreciate the consideration of the block scheduling which i've been talked about talking about for over a year now so I think this would just give us a little bit of room and provide the school board with the opportunity to with the new school board to make that decision to add a third year versus this school board making a commitment and the other school board the new school board having to live out that third year

Mr. Galbraith. I really just feel like this is a disingenuous request. I mean, we just heard Mr. Golden say last year, in good faith, he asked that we had a new board. a predominantly new board about the same number of new members as we're going to have this next year. And out of deference to them, he asked to not be considered because he didn't want the new board members to make a decision until they've had time to evaluate. And now we're flipping the script and say, hey, thanks for that. You've given us an opportunity that we can not have to say we want to fire Jason, but we can essentially just go ahead and start that process now is what you're saying. That's exactly what you're saying. I mean, you don't have to say it out loud. I know you don't want to say it, but that's what you're saying. And so, no, I think it's disrespectful to the work that we've done. Everybody here has two years with which, at least two years with which to evaluate Jason. I think we owe it to him to tell him. I think one year is fair. I think it's not, you know, it's not... tie in the new board's hands, you know, they're still going to have another, they'll have another year and then in a year they'll, they'll get to decide if they want to extend it again for a year or two, whatever they, whatever they want. So just my, just my piece. Thanks.

Dr. Driggers.

I'm not sure what, waiting to September so five new people who have no board experience, who have never worked with the superintendent, I know Eric, I'm looking at you, okay, that they would be given, could give an informed vote Why does waiting until September allow the five, I'm assuming Donna gets reelected, new members who've never been on the board have a say on the extension of the contract with the superintendent with whom they've never worked? It also denies the superintendent the opportunity to change when the new board takes place in September. If the new board comes to him with an issue, I don't know, cell phones away from the day or something, then he changes and he goes to his staff. I would also say he always takes my phone calls, at least once a week, and two or three times a week I go and I sit down in his office, we shut the door, and we have a talk. He's never denied that. Meeting with him to discuss my view and his view. And all the information I've added for lawsuits in the last five years, bullying, quarterly reports, and those sort of things, we have them now. He was told by the board we wanted that data, and he's come up with it. Sometimes it gets changed a little bit. But I just don't see the advantage to moving it to September. We vote tonight and we move on. That's all.

Ms. Wyatt.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Our students start school in 56 days. I feel like our students, our staff and our families deserve to know who their leadership is. And I know many of them are already working hard preparing for next year. I feel like if we're looking for room for this discussion, we should have considered this and we voted on the annual agenda. We all knew when this was going to happen and we knew the month. That would have been the time to address the timing of the discussion. I am not comfortable postponing this decision until September. Thank you.

Mr. Welch?

The board is the board. The pieces might change, but it's still the board. Just like when principals change at a high school, we don't throw everything out that way. I'm not getting the logic here where the board was incapable after 12 months of making a decision a year ago. It frankly I think was an error on our part. But the board with members who've been on 30 days will suddenly be in a better position to do that? I mean, is there anyone here who thinks they're more knowledgeable? or less knowledgeable today than they were two years ago? More experienced, more capable of making these decisions? Just a comment about academic growth, and scrolling through my photos here, and came across the Tennessee Department of Education report card for growth when I first got on the board. well, academic achievement and academic growth. Academic achievement was straight A's, math, reading, language, art, science, social studies. Straight A's across the board. What do you think academic growth was? It was three D's and a B. On the test, we were leading the state, but when you start digging into the numbers, We weren't growing the kids the way that we should be. And when you really started digging into numbers, the quintiles, that top fifth, that bottom fifth, we were semi-failing the kids. We're straight A's now. And that's a big reason for it. As are those individuals over there and their staffs and teachers and everything else. this much lesser reason for it, frankly. That growth was so good, again, under leadership of this man right here in doing it, that the Secretary of Education, not for Tennessee, but for the United States, the U.S. Secretary of Education was set to come and visit Williamson County to see what we had done. A little bit of history there for everyone. I intend on building tonight, in my opinion. Thank you.

Mr. Cash.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I agree with so many in this room on this comment about waiting until September. First of all, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'll tell you something. A lot of folks that are voting tonight don't know enough about what goes on in Williamson County and what it's taken to make this county the top school in the state. Stop looking at one or two items and say, well, I don't think he did a good enough job on this and not think about the people he's got to bring into this in and out of the school system to make things work. I've had my ups and downs with Mr. Golden over the years, but it's business. I didn't get my way a lot of times. Sometimes I did. That's the way it works. But this is the most well-oiled school system in the state of Tennessee. And to come in here and say we need to wait until September now with, what, five or six new board members? that don't even have a chance to get to know the superintendent and all these fine, dedicated principals we've got here, it's wrong. It's unnecessary. We do this every year, even though we switch off every two years. Let's not fix what's not broke. Thank you, Mr. Golden. You have reached most of your goals. or even partially, I want to pat you on the back and your staff and our principals and everyone involved to realize that we need more technical training, and we're getting that. We've got an innovation center over here that is a state of the art. We've got an EIC center, state of the art. We've got a megachronics lab in Fairview that graduates young people with an associate's degree. And we need another one, and I want that on your goals for Summit High School.

Yeah.

I second that. I think it's highly necessary, and I know Ms. Sarah Lamb agrees with me. We've got the room. And we need to get it in over there. But thank you for all that, along with ACT scores. I mean, go down the list. Go down the list and compare this school system with anyone in the state and out of the state. So that's where I'm going to leave that. And I won't be voting for an amendment. Thank you.

Mr. Beasley. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to weigh in and tell Mr. Golden that I really appreciate all the work that you do. And it takes a lot. And any time that I've ever reached out to you for anything, you've always called me back or text me back within seconds. And I appreciate all the work that you do. And I won't be voting to defer this down the line. I want to go ahead and support you right now. So thank you so much.

Any other questions or comments on the motion to defer? I'm just going to say a couple of things just in my capacity as a board member, not as the chair. I think this is an incredibly ill-advised motion and for a couple of reasons. First of all, the reference was made to 2019, the contract being initiated in 2019, and somehow That's one of the reasons why we should maybe not see it as a valid contract or the terms of that contract not being valid. I just want to remind us that I don't have the exact numbers, but I'm guessing there were dozens of maybe hundreds of policies that were enacted by the board that was sitting in 2019 for that period of time that we are abiding by today as a district. If we follow the logic, any policy that was enacted during that period of time is a policy that we should now revisit. I think that's not the right way to think about this. I also think back to my first month on this board. I'm 100 percent certain that I would not have wanted to be voting on a contract extension in my first board meeting for someone with whom I had never worked. So for those reasons, I'm gonna be voting no on the amendment. I'm gonna urge my fellow board members to vote no on the amendment. Are there any other comments? All right, we are now voting on the amendment to defer the contract extension until September. Yes means you want to defer, no means you do not.

The vote is two yes, nine no, one abstain. Okay, the motion fails.

We are back on the original motion, which is for a one-year extension of Mr. Golden's contract. And to be clear, that contract extension would take effect on June 17, so Wednesday of this week. So the three-year period would begin June 17. Any discussion on the motion for a one-year contract extension? Seeing none, we're ready to vote.

The vote is nine yes, two no, one abstain.

Okay, the motion prevails.

Mr. Golden, congratulations on a one-year contract extension. Thank you.

Thank you for all your work and for the work of your team. We're very grateful.

Mr. Chair, your last word really struck me, the work of your team. We all know this is a team effort. A lot of good people. And that's a phrase I tell you often. We have a lot of good people. And so I'm very proud of the folks I work with.

All right. We're going to move on to the approval of our agenda for the evening. We do this by voice vote. Do I have a motion and a second? Okay, thank you. All right. All those in favor of approval of the agenda say aye. Any opposed? Okay, the agenda is approved. We'll now move on to our consent agenda. Likewise, a motion and a second. Any discussion of any items on the consent agenda? Okay, all those in favor of approval of the consent agenda say aye. Any opposed? OK, the consent agenda is approved with that vote. You approve the May 18th, 2026 school board meeting minutes. Board policy for second reading, which is 4.202 child find and special education. Approval of E plan applications for fiscal year 2027 to include ESEA grants as amended by every student succeeds act IDEA Part B. IDEA preschool and Carl Perkins grants. Approval of the building modification for a shade structure at Amanda North Elementary. An recommendation for field trip fee requests. Our next item is communications to the board and our superintendents report. Mr Golden.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you board members. And I want to reiterate, thank you for the vote you just had, uh, in, in, uh, in relation to my contract, did want to speak to some of the public comments we had from folks. Uh, first we did have some very in-depth detailed discussions about, uh, what I think of as our cell phone policy. And that was part of what our screen time committee evaluated really at the very beginning of this past school year with some recommendations and then the board voted last fall related to the policy. You all may recall that on the floor there was some discussion about some additional language related to how to manage the ultimate board decision for next year related to making sure that students at the high school level only had access to their cell phones during lunch. Dr. Webb presented to you all back in February a detailed plan about how we were going to examine possibilities. I think of it as an experiment where you had a control group and an experiment group at some of our high schools evaluating what was our best recommendation to do the best we could to secure the phones. And we've had a lot of detailed discussions about that since the presentation of that information that was first given to you in writing a month ago and then discussed in much more detail at this most recent work session. And we've landed with you on the best we can do. And we know that it's not perfect. And that's part of the discussion you all have had related to this. You saw that data, and we've given that to you. I'll share just a couple of opinion thoughts related to that. I am of the opinion that the discussion related to cell phones is an ongoing issue. It is in an evolutionary time where we're going to be evaluating and potentially continue to make changes. That is the approach that we're taking from an administrative standpoint. There are some possibilities that we're gonna identify things when we first implement this, the beginning of this school year, where we may come to you and say, look, we've gotta make some adjustments to where we are and some tweaks. But what we do know from the data we received from teachers and from students is that based on what we evaluated, teachers have determined that for the instructional time, The best way, given where we are with that time at lunch, is for them to be able to physically see that those phones have been turned off and sitting up there. There's lots of choices, but that's where we are. Certainly open to any questions you all may have about that once I finish a little bit of additional discussion. We've also talked more recently about bullying. We know that that needs constant attention and it needs thoughtful attention. Dr. Driggers, you mentioned something about bullying data. We still actually are compiling this year's bullying data. We haven't gotten the end of this year's information to you. We're going to get that to you. I was encouraged by the one story we had from a public comment from a parent about how those bullying behaviors changed after that first intervention. I will tell you that does not always happen. Often, a student receives discipline, and you see an example of the bullying behavior continuing, and you have to continue to tier the discipline and find that appropriate way to stop it. But what we do focus on is student reporting. It's in our hearts that there are some students who might not have the capacity to report, and that is something that we talk about as well, making sure that we are involved and available and within sight so that we can identify those issues as well. But largely, some of those are not going to get noticed by teachers because the student who is engaged in that behavior is quite aware of teachers' presence. And so we need an environment where students do report, where students are comfortable reporting. so that we can take action. I would much rather have those reports come in reports that might not quite fit the quote unquote definition of bullying and make sure we intervene regardless of what the conclusions are and make sure that students are safe. That will be an ongoing issue as long as this school system exists. But in the time I'm superintendent and in the time our leadership team is there, we're going to make sure that we're proactive in encouraging students on the front end to let them know where we are with that, both in a positive way and, truthfully, letting them know the consequences on the front end and in a responsive way when those reports come. It needs constant attention. Our special education work from our student support services leadership includes them working to find ways to grow our students. We've got room to grow in communication. We do. And so I take those comments we've heard to heart to find ways to continue to communicate and make sure that we do the best we possibly can for students when they leave us. Student time in Williamson County schools is temporary. We are preparing them for the next step. Uh, and we don't know what their future holds, but we can open doors for him. And Mr. Cash, you mentioned, you mentioned, uh, some, some of our technical education programs that we've taken intentional steps on to improve so that we can open more doors. for our students and that continues to be a point of emphasis that what we do even if we have those gaps in communication comes from the heart and I'm very proud of I'm very proud of the heart of our faculty and staff and please know that we are going to make sure that that the heart is not all of it that we do it based on research the growth that Mr. Welch mentioned It's based on research and the interventions that we've put in place through Dr. Allen and Dr. Royer and Dr. Webb's work with their teams. We've added instructional coaches for those kinds of reasons. We've added a focus on common formative assessments and time for teachers to get together and make sure that that they learn from each other and have that support so that they can, from time to time, address in a strategic way student mastery of standards before the proverbial autopsy that Dr. Johnson mentioned at our most recent work session. I do want to mention also the athletic period. We had some discussions about should we be looking at an athletic period, and that discussion happened a few years ago, but most recently this year we've said we need to revisit that. Some of the comments you heard today are part of what's driving us, the busyness of our students. Can we create an environment for our students that gives them more opportunities with potentially less pressure because we found ways to buy some time for them? So Dr. Webb has already had some preliminary conversations with our school administrators about that as we explore it and try to find some balance. Board members, I want to thank you for continuing to share with us. And please know that in everything we do, I focus and I constantly remind our team of our focus on our vision statement, that we will provide a supportive environment where students are challenged to excel in academics, athletics, and the arts. And you've heard me say it, that combination of support and challenge are not mutually exclusive. They work together, but they both need to exist in this environment. Historically, we've done great on the challenge, and we need to make sure we focus on that support from time to time as well, especially with our most vulnerable students. So with that, Mr. Chair, I know Corey Mason has some student spotlights, but I think it's possible we may have some board questions prior to Corey coming to speak.

Any questions or comments for Mr. Golden before we move to Mr. Mason? Mr. Galbraith.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Jason, I know we discussed at the work session, as you mentioned on Thursday, about the cell phone policy. And I did earlier, both Thursday and earlier today, my intention was to bring up a directive to to kind of recognize the shortcomings of the proposed procedure to secure the cell phones during the day. And after talking with Dr. Webb, I decided not to talk about it. or not to bring that up as a voting item, but to talk about it instead and explain my reasoning to the board as well, because I sent y'all and told y'all that it was my intention to bring that. I think the... I mean, I stand by everything that I said on Thursday. I think as I sit back and decide whether or not I wanted to bring that forth to a vote, I reflected and just looked at the solution itself. And I think the imperfect solution is more a function of our imperfect policy than anything that Dr. Webb and her team did in evaluating a potential solution. I mean, effectively, I still 100% believe in a way for the day. And I think the the fact that we, that we added, um, the lunch access complicated the, the situation such that, that it really was really was an impossible directive to, um, to the district leadership to, to provide such a solution. Um, I know Dr. Webb, they, they did their research. Um, they talked to a lot of schools, um, how they're doing it. Um, and I think the, I I'm not, I'm not convinced that. even the ultimate solution when we go away for the day may not include technically secure storage. I think it's more about the leadership from the board, the superintendent, district leadership, as well as the principals and teachers. Everybody banding together, understanding and kind of locking arms to understand. And we talk a lot about data, like there's overwhelming data that says that students are, the learning environment is much better without the distraction of the phones. I mean, so many I mean, we talked about it kind of ad nauseum and we just don't have the, we didn't have the political will to get that done. And so instead of trying to promote a kind of a, afterthought or a piecemeal solution now that they've got to put together in a couple of months. I'll be supportive of the procedure that you guys put together. I don't think it's perfect and I've been to Mr. Golden's point. I don't think it's the last time that, um, that the board is gonna talk about this. Um, I, I doubt we'll, um, talk about it in August and probably wouldn't be very productive, but, uh, I suspect the, um, that it's something that the new board will, uh, will continue to, uh, to discuss. So thank you, Dr. Johnson.

Thank you. First off, I'm glad you mentioned the bullying data was being compiled, because I was like, I didn't get that. So I was like, okay. So that's good to know. And then I just have a question. Like, I know Mr. Davis has been here nine out of ten meetings. Have you reached out to him and tried to have a meeting or look at the data? that he's talked about?

We did meet many months ago. We have not met in the past few months, and I can't off the top of my head tell you how many months, but it's been quite a number of months since he and I spoke.

So I would ask that maybe reach out to him to see that data so that can be part of that bullying discussion. And then around the SPED work, you know, you talked about communication growth, and I know Ms. Hogan talked said they haven't, they've heard had verbal things, but could they get something in writing so that they can make an, a truly informed decision?

Yes, ma'am. We'll make sure our, our student support staff gives her that direct written confirmation. Good suggestion. Thank you.

Mr. Bostic?

Yeah, I was just going to ask about an update as it relates to the T2 rollout and the change, because I know there's been some pullback and things changed from where we had talked about it last month. So where does everything stand as of now?

Sure. Thank you for that question. And I think I've sent you all some written information related to that. In our deep discussions, we determined that the appropriate thing to do was to make sure that families had that school choice. So we are going to make sure that those transition to programs at all those schools still have the capacity, just as they did last year. We have had some folks say, I do choose, I do want a different location. And because of that rollout, we wanted to make sure we honored everyone. So everyone will have that choice. We do not have firm decisions from every parent, but we are going to make sure that students can receive the same services at the particular locations that they received last year.

As it relates to, like, transportation?

Correct. Transportation, et cetera. That is correct. Good. Dr. Triggers.

Yeah, I wanted to add a comment. For at least a year, I've been advocating for consistency of punishment, and what I get back is we have to leave our principals with maximum flexibility given the student, the time, the offense. We recently had success with the walkouts in protest of ICE. We changed the policy and we took away the discretion from the principals. If you have an unexcused absence and it's for a protest, a walkout, then you must get some kind of detention. I'm still unhappy that what happened at Brentwood compared to other schools, the inconsistency that was applied. I would look to apply this to bullying. That's, so everybody knows, that's on my agenda for this next year, one of the items, bullying. There has got to be something that we can do to reduce it. We're finding it, thanks to Dr. Webb, we're finding it, but exercising the will to tell a parent that their kid is out of line. And they, you know, go get a lawyer, go get a psychologist, find a private school. But we have to get tougher. The people taking the photographs on the buses and then using AI to morph them into a naked image of that child and then spreading it around in their lunch hour, that's happening. It's got to stop. All I have to say.

Thank you for that, Dr. Drew, because I did want to speak briefly to your comment about about the, uh, discipline for, for students. I want to make sure that we're clear that, uh, what the board did with our discipline policy that has various, uh, uh, school offenses with discipline is for, is for skipping. Uh, we eliminated the lowest level of discipline and in, in, in our policy. And so regardless of the reason for someone skipping, then they will receive that minimum, which has been ratcheted up. So thank you for that.

Mr. Boston. One last follow-up on T2. It just recurred to me. Do we have a, do we know what kind of staffing looks like from that, from going forward? Because I've heard of a lot of people that have left.

I don't know off the top of my head, but from a staffing standpoint, from a human resources perspective, we will have the same staffing. Same staffing. Yeah, I can't speak to any individual teachers off the top of my head.

All right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks.

Okay. I think we're ready. Mr. Golden for the, uh, South spotlight students.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's June, but we do have a student and staff spotlights.

That is correct. We have a great group of students that we're celebrating tonight, and we're going to kick things off with eight students who earned a perfect ACT score on the March exam, starting at Centennial high school with Logan Williamson got that 36. Yes, from Independence High School, Brooklyn Wutring earned that 36 as well. We had several from Ravenwood High School, including Aditya Nandina, Josephine Conkright, Nicholas Gianiculius, and Rohan Gunasekar. Yes, congratulations to them. And then from Summit High School, Colt Miller got that 36, as did Emma Geena. So congratulations to them. Moving on to athletics, where I will add, as a district this past year, we earned a record number of state championships at both the middle school level and the high school level. We're going to run through a few of those from this spring, including here at Brentwood Middle School, the boys' soccer team won the Class 2A state championship, and their coach is Sarah Richardson and Amanda Hackett. Congratulations to them. Also from Brentwood Middle School, we have the team of Rachel Ricotta, Olivia Jeong, Emma Schroeder, and not pictured is Izzy Rainford, but we want to make sure we mention her. They were the girls golf team that won the state championship this year, and they are coached by Michael Purifoy. From Brentwood Middle School, Lauren Harris won the girls class 3A Discus State Championship. Over at Legacy Middle School, Kenyon Alexander won the boys class 2A long jump. And also from Legacy, Jason Pierce won the boys class 2A shot put. And those two students are coached by Sabrina Spisak. Over at Page Middle School, Barrett Tablak won the class 3A 800 meter run. And he also captured the 1600 meter run championship. His coach there is Nick Landry. Over at Thompson Station Middle School, we have Anna Claire Cole, who won two state championships this time around, the Discus Championship for Class 2A and the Shot Put Championship. Her coach there is Michelle Cermak. At Woodland Middle School, this group here of Lucas Hockman, Chris Keeney, Louis Sedlicek, and Oliver Brown won the Boys 3A 4x400 Meter Relay Championship. And then Louis Sedlacek, Ty Burton, Ryan Chapman, and Oliver Brown won the Boys 3A 4x800 meter relay. And then also from Woodland Middle School, Melina Levack won the Girls 400 meter dash. And all of those students there at Woodland Middle School are coached by Andrew Swanson. Moving on to the high school level where we have a whole bunch of state championships that came in from this year's Spring Fling. We'll kick things off at Brentwood High School with the girls tennis team that won the Class 2A team championship for the third time in four years. Congratulations to them. And the boys team said, yeah, we can do that too. So they went out there and they won that Class 2A championship. Congratulations to them. Both of those teams are coached by Kristen Young. From Brentwood High School, and I love this story, Lauren Banavac won the girls class 3A 1600 meter run. And then her twin sister, Leah Banavac, won the girls class 3A 800 meter run. And you see them in that picture there celebrating together. What a great story. Also from Brentwood High School, Cameron High won the boys class 3A 110 meter hurdles. And Darren Ogbenloho won the Boys Class 3A 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. And then after that, he went on to join Liam Ching, Cameron High, and Jackson Allen, and they won the 4x100 meter relay. And then that team as a group, the track and field team there, they won the class 3A best overall team for the boys did. The coach there at Brentwood High School, Steve Brock, doing a great job. Over at Fairview High School, this group of Reese LaRonde, Andy LaRonde, Eileen Ellis, and Sarah Edwards, they won the class 2A 4x800 meter relay. Their coach there at Fairview is Marilyn Curtis. From Independence High School, Asher Oates won the boys class 3A 1600 meter run and the 3200 meter run. His coach is Isaiah Marshall. Make it two in a row for the Nolensville High School boys lacrosse team. They won their second consecutive TSSAA state title. Congratulations to them. Their coach is Tom Pettit. Over at Page High School, Emma Baker won the Class 2A Tennis Singles State Championship. Her coach is Tanya Parker. And then just like the Nolensville High School boys, the Page High girls lacrosse team won their second consecutive state championship in the Class A division. They are coached by Dana Fasano. Over at Ravenwood, the girls flag football team remains undefeated in state championships. They won their second in a row this past month, winning that girls flag football championship. Second in a row, and there's only been two. So they are rolling. And we heard earlier from Ricky Rodriguez, their coach, doing a great job. The Ravenwood High School girls lacrosse team. So that's three lacrosse teams here in Williamson County that came away with state championships this year. They won the Class 2A girls lacrosse state championship. They are coached by Bill Dreyer. And then this group here, the boys soccer team at Ravenwood High School, they won for the first time in school history, that boys team program won the Class 3A state championship. They're coached by Michael Reed. On the track and field side, the group of Clayton Blanton, Jamison Mitchell, Brennan O'Donnell, and Nate Lamb won the Class 3A Boys 4x400 meter relay for Ravenwood High School. Anna Keeney, she won the girls Class 3A 100 meter hurdles, and then also won the long jump. All of those students in the track team there at Ravenwood are coached by Pete Mueller. And last but not least, over at Summit High School, Lorelei Whitten won the girls' class 3A 3,200-meter run. She is coached by Johanna Bourdon. Congratulations to all of our spotlight winners this month.

Mr. Chair, if I may, we had the Wilkos, our district athletics awards, just a few days ago, and I had asked our human resources staff to pull one piece of data for us that I thought was telling about the scope of what our people do. We have 1,006 high school and middle school coaches. The scope of what we're doing is incredible. That's 1,006 excellent coaches who are growing our students. And the reality is, for every sporting event, somebody wins and somebody loses. But they're growing. Every single one of those students who participate are growing. Last month, we had our art celebration, and likewise, those art students are growing as well. So I'm very proud of our district. That's my report.

Mr. Beasley, do you know anyone on that Page High girls lacrosse championship team?

Mr. Chair, I do, actually. She's one of the prettiest girls on the team. Yeah, well, thank you for that. We're very excited. It's two years in a row I believe they won state championship for lacrosse, so I'm proud of my daughter. Very exciting.

Mr. Welch?

Yeah. Oh, thank you. Mr. Golding stole my thunder a little bit. I was going to talk about the Wilco's, which we had. And I think it was our best one yet. It was a couple little changes, some of the signage with the red carpet. Our young ladies just very elegant in their cocktail dresses and our, our young men, very debonair and their taxes, um, you know, great sponsors who helped us out with that. It was, uh, not overly lengthy, which has been a challenge in, in some years. And, um, you know, our, our new athletic director, Mr. Whitlock, I think did a great job with that, especially knocked it out of his park, especially with the, uh, it being his first one. Um, And all the kids got, you know, appropriate recognition and time. The young man that we saw up on the screen going over the hurdles, and everybody kind of went, oh, like that. And there was a similar picture of him. It looked like something out of the Olympics, like you would see, you know, a demo, I guess, going over the hurdle. And I talked to his mom afterwards. That young man's going to Harvard, and he's going to major in pre-med, you know. So, you know, so often I think there's these stereotypes of, you know, the dumb jock, but His story, while phenomenal, was not unique. It was so many of these kids who've just excelled in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom as well. And I think it's just probably sort of that same thing, that dedication and hard work and fortitude that, you know, maybe someone else has the same athletic and potential, but, you know, just that work to put in and rise you to the top, and it does the same thing in the classroom. We saw that over and over again. You know, uh, Jason and I were there to last year and we were there two years ago and Jason couldn't make it this year. Uh, it's conflict with the parents talked about that. So it was just me. Um, And I would say it was embarrassing. And not that the Wilco's is the end all, be all. And there's other events. And I don't want to call out anybody in particular, but this has sort of been in my craw for a while. I've got to say, we've got to do better as a board to show up to some of these events. And again, I don't want to call out anybody in particular. There's things that I miss. We all can't make everything. There's constant, but there's a lot of events nearly all our events that just don't have the attendance from us that they deserve. And that's not everyone, certainly not. But there's a lot of us who don't show up nearly as much as we need to. And for those of us rolling off that's guilty of that, it's your individual loss. But for those that will stick around, I would say it's a big opportunity here because there are some wonderful things, amazing things that our kids are accomplishing all the time. And we really have a unique ability to go and see those and be a part of that and take a lot of pride in that. So I would just say I would encourage everyone who will be here in September and those coming on to really take advantage of that and be a part of that and see a lot of the stuff that's going on. You won't be disappointed, I promise. Thank you.

Mr. Welch, if I may, I have to make a couple of comments. Number one, I love that you mentioned that we knocked it out of the park using the metaphor for how well Patrick Whitlock did his work. We've had some conversations. Mr. Whitlock, Coach Whitlock is doing an excellent job in growing that. I wanted to specifically mention Wally Whidbey, Franklin High School's baseball coach, who received the Courage Award. He was hit in the eye with a baseball this season and lost his eye. And they're still working on that. There is a video that's been published. I encourage you all to click on the video. Corey, if I'm not mistaken, he may not be in here. I think we sent that out with our In Focus article. I encourage you all to click on that. The inspiration, he and his team, even before his injury, has just increased in some fractal proportion. based on what he's going through. Pretty wonderful guy. He is another one of those exemplars of our excellent coaches. Thanks for bringing that up.

All right. We'll move on to board chair report.

I only have one item, and that's just to remind the board of the special called meeting on June 29th. We talked about this at the work session last week, but we will be meeting on June 29th at 5 p.m., and that is for the purpose of voting on the revised budget that comes back to us from the county commission, and that will be at the training center.

The PD room down the street.

The PD room where we have our work session. That's where we're going to have that meeting. So mark your calendars if you haven't already for June 29th at 5 p.m. Okay, new business. We will move into first item is evaluation of the superintendent. We talked about this again at the work session. Everyone submitted Each individual board member submitted your evaluation. Those scores have been published and evaluation documents have been published. We are required to vote on that to accept that evaluation. I will need a motion and a second to get that on the floor. Thank you and we will open it up for any comments that anyone may have about the evaluations. If anyone does. OK, seeing now we will move to a vote to accept the evaluations as presented.

A software is not working. Can we check Mr Beasley's screen?

Can we record a voice vote for him on this one? How do you vote, Mr. Beasley?

Yes. Okay.

The vote is 12 yes, 0 no.

Okay, with that vote, the evaluation is accepted. We'll now move on to school board budget items for the current fiscal year. First one is approval of general purpose school fund amendment 06.26 summer learning camps grant in the amount of $5,198,896, Mr. Golden.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is the Summer Learnings Camp Grant, which represents the state funding our summer school program that exists per the statute. Again, as I mentioned in the work session, the driver for your memory is this is the result of what we talked about as the third grade retention law, but it actually goes through rising kindergartners through rising ninth graders. Do recommend approval of this grant.

All right. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion on this item? Ms. Wyatt.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Golden, will you speak to, you mentioned it during the work session, about this is the only program fully funded by the state?

Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Wyatt. I think that's right, and I said that somewhat facetiously and tongue-in-cheek, but I think it's true. It is the fully funded state program. Yeah, exactly. So, yes.

Thank you.

No more editorial comment? No, I'm tempted, but I'll leave it alone. Okay. All right, any further discussion? All right, we're ready to vote.

The vote is 12 yes, 0 no.

Okay, that grant is approved. Next item is approval of general purpose school fund amendment... 06.26 fine arts donation from Gibson gives in the amount of $42,975, Mr. Golden.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned at the work session, again, this is a gift from Gibson Gives, the charitable arm of Gibson Guitars, which is a Nashville-based company, in conjunction with First Bank Amphitheater, which is a Williamson County-based venue. The neat thing that they do is have the artists who perform their sign at Gibson Guitars, they eventually auction them off and donate the funds to our music program. So we're in, I think, the fourth year of that. So we want to publicly thank Gibson Gives for that charitable support of our students. Do recommend approval.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, we're ready to vote.

The vote is 12 yes, 0 no.

The amendment is approved. Next item is approval of general purpose school fund amendment 06.26, public school construction and maintenance in the amount of $1,025,319.86. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. This is another revenue item. This is that one that we mentioned that we actually had no idea of it until, if I'm not mistaken, the last week in May, first week in June. from the Department of the Treasury, which is not the typical funding body for us. The state included some additional funding for students who met in school systems that met particular criteria, one of which was a majority of their schools having the single-letter grade A, which actually, to Mr. Welch's earlier point, is a measure that includes both academic achievement and growth. You have to have both to get those As. There are some other criteria as well, so there are other districts who receive this as well. I do recommend approval of this additional fund that actually helped us close our budget gap.

All right. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Did I hear correctly at the work session or in some other conversation that this is something we're likely to get in the next school year as well based on that letter grade?

That is correct. We were notified to the Department of Treasury that they have funding for this in next year's budget as well. This particular fund was something that is last minute out of this current year's budget, but the legislature added it into next year's budget.

Okay. All right. We're ready to vote.

The vote is 12 yes, 0 no.

Okay, that amendment is approved. Next item is approval of Central Cafeteria Fund Amendment 06.26 in the amount of $252,895.94. Mr. Golden.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is an end-of-year booking, to use Rachel's term, of commodities purchased. We budgeted for it, but we have to reconcile it based on what we actually received, and that's that $252,000 representation. I do recommend approval.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Okay, we're ready to vote.

The vote is 12 yes, 0 no.

That amendment is approved. Next item is approval of 2025-2026 budget adjustments. Final year-end intra-category. Mr. Golden.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is, as stated, the end-of-year intra-category adjustments for the final for this year so that each budget line item is appropriate both in revenue and expense. Do recommend approval. The detail is in your packet. Certainly, if you have any questions, Rachel is available.

okay we have a motion in a second any discussion okay we're ready to vote the vote is 12 yes zero no okay that those adjustments are approved item six approval of resolution of 2026-2027 capital request in the amount of $13,665,250. Mr. Goldwyn.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Back in March, you all approved our annual capital request that we take to the county commission. Now in June, we're putting it in the form of a resolution to actually bring to the commission as they make decisions related to our budget. So I do recommend approval to... It's really the second vote for the numbers, but in a different format.

Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion?

Mr. Galbraith? Jason, what has been the discussion at the... at the county level about this particular capital request, this maintenance capital?

MR. Thank you for your question. The discussion has been relatively small compared to our general purpose budget because they've been concerned about the fund gap. We have shared with them some detail based on their questions related to the locations that we're doing the work and the substance of the work. Trying to think back to some specifics. We did mention that this request is less than last year's request by, I'm trying to remember, Brian and Rachel. by about $500,000, so not a huge reduction. And I would like to call on Mr. King and Ms. Farmer as well, if you all could share any other details that you can remember from those conversations. They have not made a vote yet on this. They've postponed their vote so that they could evaluate the entire budget.

Not even the budget? Like, budget committee? Education committee? That... Rachel?

Education committee did, but there were only two people present, and it was...

We're like one to nothing an abstention or something.

No, that was actually two to nothing for that one. And then the unanimous, we're just going to call it unanimous. So we're not going to get into the number. So to give you some detail related to that one at one of the meetings, um, uh, there were two budget, uh, two education committee members there. Uh, our budget had a one to zero to one vote. That's the general purpose budget. But this one, this, this particular capital request passed two to nothing. So for practical purposes, with 24 commissioners, we don't really have a good idea of where it's going to land.

Gotcha. So nobody's thrown out the $2 million reduction just to save $2 million yet?

That is correct. But to your point, that has over the years been common.

Thanks.

Yet being the operative word. Okay, any further discussion? All right, we're ready to vote.

The vote is 12 yes, 0 no.

Okay, the resolution is approved. Next item is the board policy for first and final reading. This is the approval of Policy 3.401 on student transportation. Mr. Golden.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do want to emphasize that this is the first and final, as you mentioned. Our board policy actually calls for two readings of policies that have substantive changes. This does have a substantive change. But we've asked for this to go for first and final because of the details related to use of electronic transportation. We intend to require students who bring electronic electric transportation, whether it's a scooter or an e-bike, to school to actually register them and take a safety class. as a condition of it, and because of the timing of it, based on our conversations with the municipalities who are trying to find a way to coordinate improving safety even outside of school, from a timing perspective, we needed to bring this to you for first and final this summer. I do recommend approval. I want to specifically thank Dr. Webb and Dr. Royer for having some detailed conversations with our municipalities. Brian, I know Brian King was involved in that as well. I will tell you, I had some specific questions with mayors from some of our municipalities who in essence said, we need help and we want to help you as well. This is one of those times where our community is working together to try to help students be safer.

Okay. We have a motion in a second. Ms. Clements.

Yes. I just wanted to find out what's your, um, what's the plan for communicating this with the families? Um, Do we have videos, PSAs? What's our plan for that?

Thank you for that. We actually did start PSAs. We got the PSA done ahead of the really detailed discussions with our municipalities. As an aside, Nolensville High School student won that PSA. We had a little competition. Dr. Webb, if you would, can you share some additional detail about our communications with families?

Absolutely. Thank you for the questions. We have started communicating through our in focus articles. Schools have started their initial communications are back to school, uh, weeks. Uh, we'll continue to communicate those, uh, and then we'll emphasize, uh, now that this is official policy, we'll communicate this out tomorrow, uh, to let our principals know that this is firm and final as approved by the board. And we'll continue those communications all throughout the summer. Uh, those will happen in the regularly scheduled communications that go out from our principals.

Okay, any further discussion? Dr. Johnson.

I just want to say thank you for this. I mean, I know Nolensville, we've got trails, and, you know, we do need to get a handle, and I love the collaboration between all the different municipalities and the people who are involved, and I just, this is the type of thing I like to see more of, so thank you.

Mayor Gallick was really good to work with. I'll add that.

Any further discussion? Okay, we're ready to vote.

The vote is 12 yes, 0 no.

Okay, that policy is approved. Next item is approval of the differentiated pay plan. Mr. Golden.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Annually, we are required by the Tennessee Department of Education to report to them any differentiated pay that we include in our budget. You all can see from that document. The estimated cost for our differentiated pay plan is $1,195,000. It includes hard-to-fill signing bonuses, yearly retention bonuses, et cetera. I do recommend approval so that we can take this to the state for our pay plan.

Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion?

Mr. Galbraith? Jason, this is always an afterthought for me. It's like at the end of the budget cycle. But I just would like to, and I guess kind of one of my things that I didn't get accomplished while I was on the Board, but is this the appropriate place for for any money that would be discretionary for bonuses that would not be across the board? I don't know if we've ever talked about it in terms of this, but in terms of, like, being able to reward excellent teachers, like, is that where this would go?

Yes, ultimately it is. You may recall there was one reference by our consultant who mentioned she had done a study. I think she had 21, maybe, school systems that she checked that and found that Jackson-Madison County actually did have a differentiated pay plan that included performance pay. So, ultimately, the answer to your question is yes. That would be what's reported to the state.

So it just has to be, it has to be reported and approved? And is it, what do they, or is it more reported?

it's it's reported but the the the requirement is that it's reported and has gone through the board as well so i i am of the opinion that when we start doing an analysis of our of the salary study for which you all just got the detail thursday we're going to have a we're going to have a discussion about it you may recall that in this particular example The report we got was that ours is relatively robust in the context of bonuses, et cetera, but we're going to have some more detailed discussions about it.

Thank you.

Any further discussion?

Okay, we're ready to vote.

The vote is 12 yes, 0 no.

Okay, that differentiated pay plan is approved. Final item on the agenda tonight is approval of the PECA Memorandum of Understanding. Mr. Golden?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Annually, through the PECA process, our management team, as it's called in the law governing PECA, meets with the teacher team and discusses the details of our MOU. There is a recommendation that actually has two parts for one substantive change that would allow teachers and principals to split some of the supplement positions, especially with a focus on school leadership. based on the details and time of that work for teachers. I do recommend approval of this. I did want to also mention this does not include an approval of the pay charts. The County Commission is scheduled, as you mentioned, to vote on our budget on June 18th, this Thursday, with a June 29th scheduled special called meeting. And we do expect that we will, well before that June 29th, give you some recommendations related to wherever the Commission lands with funding for pay. Recommend approval, again, without the pay charge being part of it.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Okay, we're ready to vote.

The vote is 12 yes, 0 no.

Okay, that memorandum of understanding is approved. With that, we have reached the end of our agenda. Thanks, everyone, for your participation. We are adjourned.