November 18, 2024 Board Meeting

Recess

Ten folks spoke about the need to increase the amount of recess time our kids get. They cited many studies that show the benefits of additional unstructured play time. They seemed to converge around the idea of having one hour of recess during a school day.

Jason Golden said that the TN state standard is 15 minutes of recess, which he thinks is too low. Generally at WCS, we're averaging 20-30 minutes.

Supplemental Pay for Arts Teachers

Seven folks signed up to speak about the discrepancy between fine arts teachers' supplemental pay versus athletic coaches' supplemental pay. Six of the speakers were students and they were all fantastic!

Mr. Golden addressed this issue later in the meeting. In response to the ongoing elevation of this issue, the board added to his goals for the coming year that he should "identity opportunities to access alternative funding sources for WCS academic, arts, and athletic programming."

Calendar

Two people signed up to speak about the school calendar. The way the WCS calendar is set up, if a family has a custody plan that alternates weeks, the same parent will have the kids for fall break and spring break.

Mr. Golden addressed this later, saying that there are unintended consequences of accommodating this type of a custody plan. It may solve the problem for some, but create problems for others. So they focus on optimizing for education when forming the calendar. It is better for students and teachers to have fall break and spring break occur between quarters.

Five Year Capital Plan

Every November, the board votes on a Five Year Capital Plan. This is a non-binding guess about how much money the district will need over the next five years. Once approved, it is sent on to the county commission for their perusal in January.

Jay Galbreath asked to add some commentary to the Five Year Capital Plan to show when each line item was added or changed. Jason Golden and Claire Reeves agreed that this was a good idea.

Tony Bostic and Margie Johnson expressed surprise and consternation about having to vote on this plan, saying that they weren't sure where these numbers came from.

Donna Clements expressed concern that the numbers were too high. She cited the growth in our county that has leveled off over the past 4 years or so, saying that we might not need so many new schools.

Josh Brown addressed the concerns, imploring the skeptical board members to collaborate and fix the problems they mentioned rather than vote against the Five Year Capital Plan. If this plan were not to pass, it could have major negative financial implications for the county. Also, it should not have been a surprise. The board voted on the annual agenda, which included this Five Year Capital Plan, in August which was after the 6 new board members had won their races.

Even still, Tony Bostic voted against the plan. Donna Clements and Margie Johnson abstained, which is effectively a "no" vote, since the plan needs 7 "yes" votes to pass. Fortunately, the other 9 board members voted in favor of the Five Year Captial Plan, so it passed.

Equal Opportunity Employment Policy

Last month, Dana Ausbrooks recommended adding a footnote to the EOE policy, referencing Bostock v. Clayton County. This was initially a tiny change and so it was going to be fast-tracked via a First and Final vote. Donna Clements asked for it to go through the usual First Reading process. In the intervening weeks, the change was expanded to move the words "pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity" into a parenthetical phrase after the word "sex." This closely mirrors the federal EEOC language.

There are a few board members who have expressed interest in removing the subclasses from the policy all together. Namely, Donna Clements, Claire Reeves, and Tony Bostic. So last night, Dr. Reeves proposed an amendment to do just that. It's important to note that this change wasn't an agenda item, so the public was not notified that this would be voted on.

In the ensuing discussion, Eric Welch polled the attorneys in the room for their recommendation about this amendment. Dana Ausbrooks explained (for at least the 4th time) that the removal of these terms would increase the district's risk and liability. Vickie Hall said that this change is concerning, and that it would alienate some of our employees. Jason Golden also recommended not removing the terms. It was also stressed that the district is bound by law to provide Equal Opportunity protection for these classes of people, whether it's in the policy or not.

Mr. Welch went on to point out that this change would be a departure from the established norm of using language from federal guidance when implementing policies to adhere to federal laws.

The argument in favor of removing these terms seemed to coalesce around the possibility that the board will need to change the policy again if the federal guidance changes.

By a vote of 9-3, the board increased liability for the district, flew in the face of how board policy has historically been derived, and went against the recommendation of the district's counsel by removing the terms "sexual orientation," "gender identity," and "pregnancy" from the Equal Opportunity Employment policy. Melissa Wyatt, Eric Welch, and Drason Beasley voted against this change.

Wilco Civic Brew

If you'd like to hear Nancy Garrett and Jennifer Aprea discuss this meeting, check out their podcast, Wilco Civic Brew.

Call To Action

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