OCTOBER SCHOOL BOARD MEETING IN REVIEW
The Williamson County School Board met at 6:30pm on Monday, October 24, 2022 for their regular monthly meeting. All 12 board members were present. An interactive copy of the agenda with links to the documents presented can be found at: https://meeting.boeconnect.net/Public/Agenda/566?meeting=554577. The meeting livestream can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo1EAL3owCE.
Public Comment:
9 community members signed up but only 8 showed up to speak.
3 citizens spoke on the problems with zoning specific to McKay’s Mill (splitting Page Middle and sending some students over to Centennial High instead of Page High).
4 citizens spoke on why the board should not change the library and instructional materials policy by limiting comments to only current parents, instead of all taxpayers.
1 citizen spoke on why we need to follow what the bible teaches and apply that to all areas of our schools.
Superintendent’s Report:
- Mentioned the upcoming zoning meetings – email any comments or feedback to [email protected]
- The 5 Year Capital plan will be presented for approval at the November meeting. You can review the latest draft at this link: https://meeting.boeconnect.net/Documents/FileViewerOrPublic/566?file=1f675599-15a6-47c2-b74d-2cf6582f3ac8&isFromMeeting=True. We must keep an eye on this and sign up to speak in November. Mr. Golden is asking for over $720 million in new debt over this 5 year period. Our taxes will continue to skyrocket. Do we really need everything in this plan? This year we had so many students withdraw from WCS that they didn’t even have to hold a lottery when students applied to go to different schools from where they are zoned. As of March of 2022, we already had 3,489 students who left the district. If you add in the numbers from 2020 and 2021, that’s 10,585 students gone. Many parents choosing to homeschool or send to private schools due to the woke curriculum at WCS. These are numbers you will never hear about. Williamson county is already $1 billion in debt, we need to reduce that number, not grow it.
New Business
- Motion to add 5 additional paid holidays for all full-time classified staff. Teachers already have 10 days built into their pay. Total cost to the taxpayers for this is $1,309,507 per year. Passes unanimously.
- Motion to grant a mid-year 2% pay raise, effective January 1, 2023 for all regular full and part-time staff. Total cost to the taxpayers is $3,500,000 per year. Passes unanimously.
- Textbooks and Instructional Materials policy. Much discussion around who should have the ability to file complaints regarding textbooks and instructional materials. The proposed changes that were drafted by WCS Counsel, Dana Ausbrooks, limits the ability of taxpayers to file complaints to only current WCS parents. This is clearly due to the 38 complaints filed last year regarding Wit and Wisdom. To note during the discussion, 30 of those 38 complaints where actually filed by current WCS parents. Donna Clements offered an amendment to change the policy back to the prior wording allowing all WCS residents file complaints. Dan Cash seconded the motion. Josh Brown spoke in favor of the amendment but when it came to a vote, the amendment failed with a vote of 4-8. Voting for the amendment was Donna Clements, Dan Cash, Josh Brown and board chair, Angela Durham. Once the amendment failed, the board quickly voted on the policy and it passed 10-2. The only 2 board members who voted against it were Donna Clements and Dan Cash. It’s very alarming that the board no longer wishes to allow all tax payers the ability to file complaints. Please reach out to Dan and Donna and thank them for standing up for all taxpayers.
- Library Materials policy. Dana Ausbrooks made the same change to this policy. Limiting the ability to file complaints to only current WCS parents. Since it is obvious that the majority of the board is only there to rubber stamp what the administration delivers, they quickly voted again and the vote was the same as above, it passed 10-2 with Donna and Dan voting against it.
- The final item was voting to approve the math textbook adoption committee members. https://meeting.boeconnect.net/Public/Agenda/566?meeting=554577
Upcoming dates:
The November policy meeting will take place on Monday, November 7th at 6pm. The work session will be held on Thursday, November 17th at 6pm and the board meeting on Monday, November 28th at 6:30pm (moved due to Thanksgiving).