August 19, 2024 Board Meeting

The board met for their August 2024 meeting yesterday. For the first time in her tenure, Jennifer Aprea was absent. Rick Wimberly and Eric Welch were also absent.

There were five main topics in the meeting:

Equitable pay for fine arts teachers
Policy updates
School bus issues
The budget
A changing board

Equitable Pay For Fine Arts Teachers

There was a large contingency from Brentwood Middle School and Brentwood High School who spoke in favor of increasing supplemental pay for fine arts teachers to be comparable to athletic coaches. This is the fourth month in a row in which students have impatiently and eloquently implored the school board to remediate this discrepancy. By my count, there were 10 students and 1 adult who spoke to this issue.

Mr. Golden addressed these concerns during his Superintendent report, saying that there is work being done to make this change. But it's not a quick process.

Angela Frederick also addressed these concerns in her public comments, saying that progress is being made. She also thanked the outgoing board members for their service.

Policy Updates

I would encourage you to read my last update from Thursday's Work Session. There was not much discussion of the policies in the Monday meeting, but there was quite a bit in Thursday's Work Session.

School Bus Issues

One parent spoke during public comment to relay his experience. His child has been consistently arriving home well over an hour after school lets out. Mr. Golden addressed this during his Superintendent report, saying that we have enough bus drivers to cover every route. But we do not have enough substitutes. So any time there is someone who is out sick, there will be a disruption in service. They are still working to find more bus drivers.

Budget

The most discussed piece of the budget that was voted on this month pertained to computers. They designated $3.4 million to purchasing new computers.

Changing Board

Angela Durham, Sheila Cleveland, and KC Haugh each gave moving remarks about their time on the board. We gave all of the outgoing board members a standing ovation in recognition of their service.

As I said in my previous post, Dennis Driggers has already been seated as the representative from District 3. The other 5 new board members will be sworn in next month.

Notably, Tony Caudill and Melissa Wyatt were in the audience for this meeting. Mr. Caudill lost his race to represent District 11. Ms. Wyatt won her race to represent District 7.

The next school board meeting will be on Monday, September 16 at 6:30pm. You're invited to come join me! It starts at 6:30pm at 1320 W Main St, Franklin, TN 37064.

Equitable Pay For Fine Arts Teachers