The WCS School Board met on Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 6pm for their monthly work session.  This is the meeting where the board and the administration goes over in detail the items to be discussed at the upcoming regular monthly meeting.  No votes are taken at this meeting.

The February meeting will be held Monday, February 20th at 6:30pm.

To view the agenda, click here.  To watch the livestream, click here.

To sign up to speak at the meeting, you must email [email protected] by noon on February 20th with the following information:

Your First and Last Name 
Complete Address 
Your Topic of Comment 
Any Organization You Represent

The meeting lasted a bit over 3 hours.  Josh Brown chaired the meeting as Angela Durham shared last month that she would be on vacation this week.

Consent Agenda:

• Esser (COVID) plan on how we will use the remaining funds from the federal government.  This is required every 6 months.  No changes were submitted.  All Esser funds must be spent by the fall of 2024.  The administration has not shared how they plan to spend the remaining $3M dollars.

Superintendents Report:

• Math Textbook Adoption Update/Presentation
  • Final approval will be made at March board meeting.
  • Question came up about social emotional learning in the teacher’s guides and student workbooks.  The “Math mindset and practices” is how Jenny Lopez described it.  She kept stating that it is not part of the lesson or framework but that it is present in these books.  She said some of the items ask the students how they feel about math and how they feel about discourse.  Wow, really?  How does that have anything to do with actually learning math? This is how we continue to spiral down and are ranked so low in overall education as a country.  She said the final recommendations will come from the teachers.
• CTE Update: Innovation Schools Grant Application
  • This would be a new $15.5 million building funded by a grant from the state which is great.  Obviously, we would have to fund the operational costs long term.  Proposal is to sign a long-term lease with the city and build this where the old City of Franklin Animal Control Facility is at Hillsboro Rd and Mack Hatcher (next to the current WCS Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center (EIC)).

Vice Chair Report

• Josh asked Sheila Cleveland to give a legislative update.  She mentioned HB 0595 – Proposed bill to recall school board members.  This bill was recently passed out of committee.  We need this bill because as we found out earlier this year, even when a school board member violates the WCS ethics policy, there is nothing we can do.  TDOE says the board member has to actually break state or federal law in order to currently be removed.

New Business:

• Request to move $290k/each for Wilkes Lane and Cox Road elementary schools as they are over budget and need additional funding to complete the supplies and materials costs. Will come from Contingency funds.  Already moved $1.8 million for Cox Road technology requests.
• Request to move $336k from Rural Contingency fund to build a softball field at Mill Creek Middle School (where an existing soccer field currently sits). This is to comply with Title IX rules which requires equity in all sports for girls and boys.
• Out of county tuition rates for 2023-24. Administration is suggesting that we reduce these ($68) from the prior year for a total of $7,864.  The rate for WCS employees remains the same at $2,000.
• Approval of school fees for voluntary supplies and/or extracurricular activities. This is equivalent to around $1.3 million that was paid in the current year.
• Policies for first reading – Internet Use policy
  • Questions about the teachers use of social media and allowing them to still have freedom of speech while not on school hours/time. Such as posting political activities.
• Approval of the Reconsideration Committee’s Recommendation for the following Library Books: Speak, Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Field Guide to the North American Teenager, and Where the Crawdads Sing – Recommendation is to keep all of these in the library, however for those that are required curriculum, they did not have the memo at the time of the work session and it has not been posted online either. The first time we will get to review this will be at the actual board meeting on Monday.
• Approval of the Reconsideration Committee’s Recommendation for the following Library Book: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
  • There was discussion about moving this into a special section in the library where it can only be checked out by those 16 and older.  Why do our taxpayer dollars continue to fund these types of objectional books?  We have taught literature for centuries with classic books that focus on the actual critical thinking and learning process instead of encouraging our children to explore these mature themes.  While we may think it’s small, each of these items add up and lead to the continued aggression, bullying and mental health issues we see in our schools.
• Approval of the Name for the new Elementary School located on Cox Road and Wilkes Lane.
  • The Cox road name is unanimous as Arrington Elementary School.  However, Wilkes Lane appears to be controversial.  We have already seen a memo go out from another group asking for a large number of members to sign up to speak on this.  The committee did not make a recommendation on this item due to the controversial nature.  They are recommending the board select between Amanda H. North Elementary or North Star Elementary.  Amanda North was a lifelong educator in Williamson County and the last female African American principal at Thompson’s State school.  Star Pointer was a famous horse born on the farm next to the Wilkes Lane property so combining Amanda’s last name with this horse name would represent a clear focus on the “North Star” of education.