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FCPS School Board Special Called Meeting, May 19, 2025

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Tuesday, meeting begins at 6:00pm

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yeah okay we'll call the uh the special called meeting of the FED County Board of Education to order um uh first if we could take a roll call Dr Mike Brown Lenny Maguire of Mr maril Miller here Mr David Raves here Mr how rounds Mr Warner speaking here miss Becky tram here Mr Myles Wilson here all right we have a a quorum we have a quorum if everyone would please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag the Republic for which it stands 1 nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right tonight we have uh a special called meeting uh with only 1 item of business which is to interview 1 of the 3 main finalists for permanent director of schools uh Mr Keel um before we get to the actual interview process just as we did uh Friday night uh we will go to item number 3 of the agenda which is public comments to agenda items only which would be the uh um the hiring of a permanent superintendent subparagraph a will be the individual comments will have uh a of 15 minutes maximum pursuant to our policy each speaker is limited to 3 minutes uh and do we have some that have signed up yes sir all right so if we could proceed with that Mr Elton Holmes uh good evening good evening uh this morning uh email Mr minor uh and I also had already informed my district representative 3 weeks ago about a superintendent candidate that might have had some budget irregularities and record of this is still the candidate is Mr Eddie K supposedly at 1 of his previous jobs when he was associate superintendent of finance and operation at achievement School District Nashville Tennessee 72022 through 82024 this was a concern I'm not accusing him of any wrongdoing but if this is true then the communities should know what the seal director is about and this is also only fair to the community and other candidates if he is going to continue to proceed as 1 of the candidates for this superintendent then the community needs to know who are over their children and who they can trust and hold accountable there should be no secret and we find out later and I'm not in the business of hurting anyone career the community wants him to address this issue whether it's true or not asking the board members will someone asked Mr K especially 1 of my 3 representatives for the community do you Mr Eddie Kia have a sealed record of any kind if so what was it about did you prepare the interview questions for the board to ask the candidates for superintendent if so or who requests so now we not just getting up here just making as making these statements you know we will appreciate some answers some feedback tonight and let us know is this true because it's very concerning if if you can't trust them now how can you trust them later good evening good evening here we go again well first I want to shout out to the Pre-K Miss Janie Miss Megan I was told by board member Reeves that we will have Pre-K back I want to shout out to all my Pre-K teachers but business I'm not accusing anyone of any wrongdoings but after doing some research allegedly 1 of your candidates 1 of your candidates you look at his resume and you go to the finance department up up there in Nashville No 1 on in the finance department is under as a reference allegedly there are still records allegedly a lady named Trudy Hughes who that candidate may be familiar with allegedly truly Hughes helped this candidate and now he's able to apply for employment all over the state and elsewhere red flag ask yourself why isn't anyone from the finance department listed as a reference on this candidate's resume additionally this candidate have a 2 so have a 2-sided sword this candidate work with the ldf and doj to help protect fed County Schools but on the other end he's in according to Mr Miller if I'm not mistaken he was in working on the budget and having budget cuts to certain employees allegedly that's what was said at the board meeting all right I got a lot of stuff I mean I got so much I mean because I'm sure none of you all done your investigations on this so I want you to keep in mind how does the board reconcile Eddie's role and Eddie's Road and represent the district on matters of equity and desegregation while his actions such as discriminatory budget cuts and questionable hiring practice appear to contradict the very principles he is supposed to uphold what safeguards are in place to ensure transparency fairness and accountability and Leadership decisions particularly when it's alleged that the past records of financial mismanagement have been sealed to protect employability rather than public trust if they done wrong doing somewhere else they would do wrongdoings here do your research the public should not have to do this for you you work for us you are elected officials this candidate uh V District left the district come back to the district allegedly this candidate applied for director of math and math teacher Haywood allegedly remote math consult consultant in Dresden allegedly even inquired about C and Mile and where the previous superintendent just went it's frequently jobs switches 15 seconds how can we trust the candidate where this candidate be the best candidate for us in our kids where this candidate stick around do your job do the research question is candidate honesty and integrity why this candidate left his last job was he forced out thank you um Miss uh is it Miss bail me m Jones good evening everyone my name is Thelma Jones and I'm here because of pre-K and because of the teachers and since they're saying Pre-K is back on I want to know is it fully staffed with all of of the classes or is it trimmed down because if it's trimmed down it does not need to be trimmed down we need all 13 classes approximately to trim it down would be a Devastation to those children that will not be able to get in so I hope that you will go back and re address that if it's trimmed down because we need all 13 of our classes and also so as I said last week Pre-K is so important and there are a lot of advantages and I'm going to go back over them again they are it enhances socialization skills it supports emotional and Social Development it strengthens fine and gross motor skills improves kindergarten readiness bills confidence in young leaders reinforces routines and procedural skills develops cognitive ilities encourages community and parental involvement Fosters exploration and curiosity leads to better behavior and social outcomes promotes collaboration among students contributes to lower primaries through Early Education our board members and Commissioners must prioritize decisions that support student growth and success I urge them to maintain the number of pre-K classes and preserve a low teacher ratios to student by ensuring that staff positions remain intact invested in early childhood education is an investment in the future of our community and I would just like to thank everyone and thank the community for supporting our children I would like to thank our maintenance staff I would like to thank our bus drivers and our bus monitors I would like to thank the teachers and I would like to thank the cafeteria workers I would just like to thank everyone and I would like to give a shout out to David Webb the commissioner for supporting us he spoke so highly of prec and I wish more of you would get involved and understand what prek does to our children thank you Miss Hattie Williams I am Hattie Williams and tonight I speak on behalf of all of the unsung heroes all of the families of our students in the FED County Community who are represented by grandparents and parents who may never ever attend a school board meeting or a County Commission meeting but they have children that they love and have great expectations for and I I say to you on their behalf tonight first let's let us acknowledge May 17 2025 this past Saturday was the 71st anniversary of brown versus Board of Education of Topeka Kansas 1954 this at the stage for where we are today here in fed County Tennessee third Good Marshall and many others working to say that separate but equal is not equal and providing the background for John McCarron and others and the United States of America versus the County Board of Education of fed County Tennessee in 1965 say in regards to this particular matter tonight that we constantly have unitary status on the agenda but we don't have an update and there are many people in the audience who want to hear an update and on May the 5th 2025 when I was the only staff member along with uh the administrator at fed wear high school school and of course Mr Eddie Hill who came on behalf of the school board and at that time I cited 2 concerns for the unsung heroes and their children number 1 we only have 2 working water sentence at fed where High School upstairs and downstairs for the usage of the students let's call upstairs and downstairs and this 1 working water fountain is used uh if they're filling a container or have have an empty container some are not going to pay $2 you know every time they need a drink of water and in the cafeteria where there is a water fountain that does not work our students are dismissed to go get some water if they want some now you all know how important hydration is if you if you're taking into medicine or if you're just doing your regular thing you got to have a lot of water and then also we've got a lot of students with respiratory issues and staff members as well and that mean asthma and bronchitis and we have poor 15 seconds long story short let us make sure that as we get ready for unitary status uh that we're looking at our transportation issues that we're also looking at the defunding efforts at every level to take all of the data time's up being put together uh by the candidates Mr Eddie Kaye thank you thank you Mr hey Miss Melody Mormon good evening good evening good evening I'm not going to mention my name because that's not the port who I am where I'm from that's not but I am going to mention some things that is very important when it comes to our children I don't care whether you're Republican independent where did all of this up come into play I went to all the way through school and I did not know whether my teacher was a Republican or the where is all of this is this going to serve our children would care about is that they get the best opportunity the best education and what I've learned prevention is cheaper than intervention prevention I do not want to see when we're talking about not paying for preschool but then we have third grade students that have to repeat or join the go some other program to catch up and what do you think will happen without this program I've been in this County for years and every year we have the same old song budget cut budget cut we made it through and we will continue to make it through when we come together and we do the best for our children and I'm not just talking to the board I'm talking to all of us it's 1 Thing to show up but it's another thing to steer and we got to step up for our children each and every 1 not the ones that's doing just the ones doing so great good but what about those that struggling I'm standing in the Gateway for them because they deserve more they deserve more if you look at and my daughter and I did this I was hoping she would be here if you look at the school board budgets I mean uh agenda and minutes for other surrounding School District you don't hear all of this uh budget our children they're more than a spreadsheet you can't put them all in 1 square some of them are trying they need a little help some of them are rectangle they go farther they have more than a spread sheet they are individual students and we should hold 15 seconds we should hold the expectation for our teachers for our parents for our school board members for our superintendent we should hold them as a high standard a high standard so that all of our children each every 1 of them can be successful and I'm going to end this in a prayer you can lock me up or whatever I'm going to end this with a prayer so father God I thank you tonight I thank you for everyone is here tonight Lord God I just thank you for us just showing up to be here and to to to help those that you left in our hands our little ones Lord God our children we pray Lord God that you will look into the heart and start here with me Lord God start with me that we will make decisions that we will remove any hatred and anger and animosity anything that will harm our children and what you would have for us to do for them Lord God start with k Lord God help us Lord God to to lead and to direct them to be there for them oh God they needed so much touches Lord God our Spirits our hearts fill our hearts with love and understanding remove any animosity Lord God any division Lord God for we know that it's saying grace too to the Bible so we asked Our God to you but find a way to bring us together to make a stronger Lord God so that our communities so that fear County can be like that light Lord God he was talking about to sit on a healing shot that we won't look to other counties but other counties will look to us to each and every 1 of us our God tonight touch is Lord Jesus that from here for we will do what is in the best interests for our little ones so in your name Jesus I ask that you will hear our prayers an answer a quart Court to your will and to what's necessary we love you Lord God and we are able to love you because we love everyone else so in your name Jesus we thank you and we praise you amen amen thank you yeah there's no more time well we got 25 seconds left is there anyone else on no we're not going well so uh we've got 25 seconds left in the uh individual comment is there anyone else that wishes to we do not know we're over 15 minutes but I mean it's up to you okay I I thought that was the 4 yeah 15 minutes total so we'll move to I don't care I mean yeah we'll we'll move to Item B representative from Community groups for board policy 5.801 again that's a 15-minute maximum period there will be a time for each speaker please limit your time speakers to 3 minutes uh that is board policy uh so anyone from any designated Community groups please come forward at this time um I have a list okay um it's uh in pain well I'm not sure if I can speak after that prayer but nevertheless prayer is always an order good evening my name is marus Payne in the meeting conducted here on May the 16th of 2025 Dr McPherson stated that he was a passion he had passion for education passion for children and he has passion to do the right thing he then gave different positions that he had held within a different school systems He also mentioned he has engaged in different programs from pre-k to graduate that statement calls me to wonder if the remaining candidates view pre-K in the same way I'm also wondering if the candidates knows negative atmosphere of the general environment between the school board member decision and the general public that they will be introduced to if they are chosen to be the superintendent of this school system I wonder if they know the feeling of the majority of the board members about deleting Pre-K programs from the FED County public school system I am curious to learn if would have the boldness to look each of you in the eye and ask you for the appeal to be afraid to give our children and the public school system a good solid start and a pre-k program are you afraid of our children and the public school system received a solid education we might have another Dr George Washington Carver who will graduate from this school system system are you afraid that the Bible schools if our children receive a solid education we might have another fed County trustee who will graduate from the public school system whether you be appear to be afraid of educating the children in the public school system are you afraid that the next mayor or the County prosecutor might be a student that graduated through the pre-k program are you afraid that the children of the public school system received a solid education we might have another representative John Lewis what are you afraid of are you afraid that if the children and the public school system receive a solid education we might have another president 15 Barack Obama or madam CJ Walker I wonder should you be reminded as Dr as Franklin D Rose Roosevelt said you have nothing to fear but fear itself please support our school thank you thank you Mr Lamar Hopsin and Mr Ricky Hopsin good evening everybody good evening I come with concerns uh not the down anybody because I don't know anything about candidates we've got people in this building that are qualified the reason you got this uproar from the community because you're choosing who you want you're not giving people that we think that are products from here of this school an opportunity this was my grammar school County boarding all my life my dad has deep history We've Got Deep history so we care about this community right now and what you have seen as an uproar from people who are not products of this community meaning that you didn't go to public school so I don't think you have a dog in like maybe you do maybe you don't but I could bet if I take a questionnaire and ask did you attend any of the Public School Systems your answer would be no did your children achieve come to school no so that's why you're seeing the public up for about it we care no mistake the passion for anger because our children are our future and right now we need to set a pathway so our children can be successful I'm a product you're pretty dog on successful had a good career enjoyed it came here from right from the school the first class to graduate from the new High School so I got history here but we noticed this last week a dog was went out and we got more people out here that still we don't think have anything good to do with school system we got County Commissioner here why don't he just fall why don't he helped fund the board more than just the bare minimum teacher pay you get what you pay for you don't pay a teacher they're going to move on to the next round encounter we've got a lot of good things happening in the account but the school's not 1 of them we do not need this divisiveness we got board members that are asleep we got board members that praised the administration the national Administration for taking down public education but yet he's a board member make it make sense what is your agenda what's the long game because we're playing checkers but we're going to play some chess too just to let you know what we're going to do we're going to keep our knees on your neck not physically but we're going to be at these meetings and everything you do we're going to check it and a nice tack away we're not violent but we're passionate about our children and don't mistake it to thanks Mr Charles Watkins um good evening everyone excuse my dress I've got to run out and go to a scout meeting my son has his Eagle Scout Board review so boy his uh you can scout uh um scoutmaster conference I got to get to but as a registered Democrat and a member of the executive board for the fair can now Democratic Party I wanted to address Community involvement as it relates to the activities of the board there have been people who have approached multiple folk about the idea of mutual respect and Common Ground and I was at last week by Bob if we could find common ground and I was real honest with Bob I said I don't know if we can find common ground and I didn't know if we could trust the possibility of working with honest actors in the pursuit of the best School Board District the fact that we were told last week at last week's meeting that the last minute community meeting for the present applicant would be at 5:00 p.m. today but was moved to 2:00 p.m. at the last minute is why I don't know if we can find common ground the fact that the chair is preparing to Res what potentially to the use of the TCA to crush dissent through potential arrest and 11 months 29 days in jail and a fine of 2500 all in the name of so-called decorum and an the meeting is why I don't know if we can find common ground the fact that the current school board has not lived up to the marketing hype used during the election and that their refusal to admit that they are in many ways over their head is why I don't know if we can find common ground the fact that the FED County Republican establishment seemingly in League with the County Commission has posted publicly that their for us to feel the seat of James velocity with their own hand-picked Republican instead of truly considering all the candidates is why I don't know if we can find common ground common ground requires trust respect cooperation and a willingness to compromise for the greater good of our children and their future what happens today and what happens during this superintendent selection process has proved that the reality of coming to Common Ground seems to almost be a pipe dream what we want is a school board that will work with the entire Community not just the folk that voted for it because of exactly because ultimately it is all of our kids and the future of this community that is at stakes and if we can do that then we can find common ground Miss Hattie Williams piggy back off with Mr Watkins said local leaders local leaders local leaders at every level of our educational system are the men and the women who should lead the FED County School System into the next millennium our local leader they have committed dedicated and sacrificed and they know everything about this community it is a shame that we continue to ask our local the leaders to give the best that they have to give we work them to death and they just keep on giving and committing and giving and then we push them to the side because now we have found a new Direction we need to go back to what we say we stand for and do the right thing by our local leaders in the search for the superintendent director of schools for the FED County School District we have local leaders that have applied for this job and that are more than qualified and it is my understanding and correct me if you will that this board changed the guidelines so that we could include certain candidates and I'm not mad at and nobody yet but I will say this you can't get unitary status mind and falsifying to that we know that the role has been called for the school voucher program to proceed across the great state of Tennessee oh my God and we already know that most of our students in fed County do not qualify will not be accepted do not have enough money or funds but we say we are including everybody because these are your options we know my students know and I know that Ford blue all of it has not committed to the FED County Public Schools unless we have unitary status and so our leadership at the County commission level at the school board level and everything in between are trying to help meet their demand you can't give what you don't have you should ask Billy that page wallet run Gantt mayor skipray Taylor the FED County Commissioners and most of the school board members here including the candidate it must be 80 kilo remember we are out of compliance not just in 2 areas but all of them and to pick African-American see was in the 2013 r i f cut and I saw people with the same jobs and positions I had who were white not not Caucasian but white who were placed in other state funded positions and you know I work like a dog to make sure I call their names and I will continue thank you thank you Mercedes Miss Melody Mormon um I have a concern in Miss Hattie I know exactly what you're talking about because I did have a conversation and this conversation was with the school board member so um and it was explained to me that um the contract for the superintendent search was um not completed now this this is what was told to me by a school board member I will not call a name that the reason why is because they wanted to control who was picked it makes sense if I go from who was supposed to be sent for an interview and I in the contract then I can control who's chosen that's what a school board member told me okay that's not nothing I made up it was told to me that that's why the contract was ended 750 7,500 gone away from that the 1 that you asked about Miss trim but then turn around and voted in favor it says to me you asked why why do we spend this money but then you turn right around and you voted in favor of ending the contract that then makes sense but I understand I understand what's going on I thank God for giving me the wisdom and knowledge to see now let's get to this you stated earlier that your parents are ill right someone your father has skin cancer and you are going to make sure that she's supposed to be talking to the board he was taking care of okay so and I understand that I took care of my father Miss Mormon please direct the comments to the door so I was just going off what he said earlier today so how can a superintendent if he's called away especially at this time fulfill his obligation to the county to the students if he's going through this and not only that you all gave the responsibility of the CTE to the superintendent did you not would he not be able to uh CTE programs so that's just too much so we need we need to go back be fair consider those that will put us in the best best place for our students for our County that we will not have to waste really more mining Minis that can be spent in a different place thank you Miss Mormon concerned in our students thank you thank you about that we have less than 1 minute left we have less than 1 million turn you call 2 names and 1 you at 1 time you call Ricky out yes sir less than 1 minute we do have they gave ball time Mr Hopson we've got you with a minute left in our allotted 15 minutes all right thank you Mr manner again I asked you last week last Friday Mr Speakman wish all this time trying to keep us from Talking he don't want to he really don't want to understand in this building in this building that appreciate uh note he was uh driving about I talked to 1 police officer and I talked to the sheriff also he more worried about us putting us out this meeting and keeping us quiet than doing what the people want I ain't got nothing against you or whatever but you I understand why you want to come up in this in this uh in this bonfire I like Mr H say well we going to keep this pressure on your neck let's look at Mr Speaker he don't give a rest booty none of this he doesn't care 15 seconds yes sir then got got our account over here where is Mr Brown at he's in the hospital yeah need to resign just like some of y'all need to go look at him you you got something to say to you but but but but by breaking the like Mr speaking breaking those rules laws and regulations thank you Mr Hopson all right thank you got 230 me 40 get a 48 hour notice correct Mr Hopson thank you for your you know what I'm saying man okay so at this point we're so at this point we will start our first rounds of questions of Mr Keel and but before we start the Mr KY do you have any opening comments you'd like to make absolutely well I can stand up stand up all right all right my name is Eddie Keel and I'm honored to be 1 of the 3 finalists for the superintendent position here in faget County Public Schools so for my former mock trial students I am going to commit a cardinal sin all the years that I used to train them and they would work on opening statements and closing statements for mock trial politicians um and that is I always told them they had to memorize any speech they did honestly I I'm tired I've been supervising and um been out of town with the potassium trip being the administrators we flew in yesterday at noon um worked all day so um I'm going to read it so if you'll um normally I would try to have this more memorized but I am going to kind of read this so I'm going to commit that cardinal sin of public speaking so um I do have some family members and Friends who are watching this and I'd like to tell them hi Mom and Dad if you're watching and for my queue and Kirky cousins and kin folks I and my friends I thank you for your prayers um there are 4 or 5 things that you need to know about me that's not in my application it's not in my resume um that you just need to know about me first I'm in hard I'm a hard worker um I'm nowhere in the league of my parents um my parents they're always on the go and they work their tail off their whole life my mom and dad um were born during the prison in Stewart County which is in Middle Tennessee and over and for over 12 years my dad lived with my grandmother outside of St Louis and worked a full-time jobs the union worker at 1 of the steel mills in Granite City with a as a union job and then would drive 5 hours to Dover on Fridays so we could Farm on the weekends and then take the 5-Hour drive back to kokee on Sunday and he did this for 12 years to provide for us and um and for that I'm very thankful and my mom had the same work ethic um right now my mom is 85 years old and she still will not let us cut her grass and because we'll mess up our flower beds so my 85 year old mother rides the rotting lawn mower uses a weed eater uses a push mower on her yard and she instilled into me and my brother is a work ethic that basically taught me that there's nothing wrong with hard work and that's just something that's been instilled in me and that I do it today second I believe God has a plan for my life God's taking care of me my whole life and as taken care of me and I'm a point I'm at a point in my life and career that's beyond us I'm not worried about having a job I have a math degree I can teach college math classes and I know that if I'm fired tomorrow I can go teach high school math and 1 of the municipal districts and make more money as a 10-month employee that I have been making as Chief of Staff of this District whether I'm selected as your next superintendent and I've told numerous numerous people that I'm okay regardless of what happens if it's God's will for this to happen I'm fine if it's not I'm okay with that too I'm going to be okay regardless because of the words of the hymn that holds true that I remember from my childhood and the hymn goes many things about tomorrow I don't seem to understand but I Know Who Holds Tomorrow and I Know Who Holds my hand so I've told anyone who asked I'm really okay of how this process works out if I've selected it's fine if I'm not that's fine your job is a board is to select the best person with the select qualifications it doesn't matter if it's me or who it is that's all I have ask you if I'm not the person selected I'm really okay with it if it's not it's God's plan that's okay third I was called to be a teacher and an educator when I was little I was what they used to call a song leader in my church from second grade off and on until I was in high school I was a song leader at my church back home in Dover and I had folks who thought that I may have been called to preach but I knew that my true calling was to teach because from second grade on I knew I wanted to be a teacher like some of the Legends back home in Stewart County like Dr Philip Wallace like Miss Frances bird Miss Nancy Kasin and Miss Lita Humphrey's Joyner I was in public school my entire K through 12 I was in public schools at College um and so I knew I wanted to be a teacher my whole life and an educator forth um I was different my whole life and high in school I was a nerd I mean I was um I was weird and I'm weird now and I have a different outlook on things my background um my work background is different because of all the people and things that God has my path because people saw things in me that I really never saw in myself and so I may not mention all of them but there's really a few key people that I want to make sure that you're aware of because it kind of shapes who I am um the first person was Mr Gordon Perry a legendary principal at Haywood High School after I taught for Haywood at a year Mr Perry encouraged me to attend a 1-week workshop at marville College about geometry and it changed my teaching life I learned how to use manipulatives and Hands-On activities to make geometry come alive and since the early 1990s I learned that I had to go outside of my district to really learn how to teach math and how to teach it well and how to really be that great teacher for students a few years later I attended a calculator training that was led and organized by legendary math teacher and educator at UT Martin Dr Sue borin Dr Boren didn't ask you to do many things she told you and so she basically told me Eddie you're going to lead a workshop on this topic at UTM this fall and I basically had no choice so I did it I was scared but what that led to was that time in the early 90s I probably led hundreds if not over a thousand professional development sessions to teachers supervisors principals and superintendents I was honored to be the Tennessee Department of education West Tennessee teacher of the year and was named as 1 of the top 3 teachers in all of Tennessee back when I was a classroom teacher later a former student of mine became my boss and that was Dr Marlon King Dr King saw potential in me that I never saw in myself I was happy being a math teacher at Haywood High School and so when Dr King was my superintendent he came by my classroom and said Eddie I want you to be an assistant principal and I'm like in which he was my student so sometimes I had to go back and forth between calling and Marlon and Dr King I was like no I I don't have any interest in that then he kept back and he come back and he come back and um talk to me and just said well you need to be an instructional facilitator and so I did that for um the last couple of years that I was in Haywood County and that led me to become a Regional math consultant for the Tennessee Department of Education and I ended up working for him again in Southwest core that put me in the path of some Legends in West Tennessee like Mr robear Kirsty and joti would Ralph Bernett and C countless other and then 1 day um Mr Carter and Dr King asked me something that no 1 really had asked me before and nobody had really challenged me with and um it's just a question nobody ever asked me and they were like where do you see yourself in 5 years and um and do you want to just work with math because that was sort of my area of expertise at that time and um I felt like I had a lot more to offer than just supporting folks in math and um and so I told him I I said I want to do more um I don't want to just focus just on that part of my work and so what they did was they forced me to learn new things so I can better support districts and supervisors um 1 of the things that comes to mind is I had a superintendent from Hardin County and they had an issue with um whether they had had because of the class size whether they had to have a a additional teacher or not and so um I told Dr King about the call and and I I know that um he knew the answer but he was like Eddie looking up and so it forced me to learn how to force to look at state board rules and Tennessee code annotated and and do the research needed when I didn't know an answer to know where to look for it so they forced me to learn new things so that I can better support district and supervisors I had to learn how to approve District strategic plans I had to learn the ins and outs of tvos I had to learn about RTI and the list goes on and on and I ultimately decided that um I really felt led to get my degree in in administration which led me to meeting 2 more legendary superintendent Dr Tim fight and Dr Jim schedule former superintendent and they taught me a lot about leadership and I could go on and on to what they taught me but 1 of the things that that remains to me to this day Dr fight said was that every decision must be made with child benefit in mind and that stuck with me and so once I earned that degree um I put what I learned to use right here in faget county and I was the chief academic officer among other roles when I joined the family here again Dr King pushed me and challenged me because when I came came to the district I thought I was going to mainly work on academics know he pushed me and um had to learn about e plan and I he had me take on the role of federal projects director at the same time I was leading academics um he pushed me again to be Chief of Staff where I basically became a jack of all trades and I had to know a little bit about everything to support folks in the districts I was then fortunate to serve under both doctor Connie Smith and Dr versing Hamlet they taught me to wrap your arm arms around the data and that data tells the story but honestly back in 2022 I mean I knew that I wasn't ready to be a superintendent and to be honest really didn't want to be 1 but then God put an opportunity in my path and that was to go back to the Department of Education and become associate superintendent of finance and operations for ASD which is a charter District I led a team of 5 that was over grants budgets and a variety of other things related to finance and operations and so I had to learn about Furs Finance reports and all things budgeting and then um to address some of the things that were brought up in some of the open comment I will come back to that because there were many many questions that I do want to a chance to go over and I have no problem answering some of the questions that came up because I have nothing to hide but um I'll get to that in just a second but um but then God slammed the door in that position because ASD was losing schools and will be totally out of existence after next year in June 2026 ASD went from 16 schools to now next year only having 2 as employees resigned or transferred they were not replaced and we went from a central office of about 16 folks to now I believe has been reduced to 3 so God opened another door because my old job here in faith candy was vacant and I applied and came back to Faith County my job title was the same title but had very very different roles and again I had to learn things I'd never done before so because of that I have a very different background that maybe some of the other candidates but the unique part of that is that I have been involved in academics and finance and almost every part part of a school system because of those things but then the fourth thing you need to know about and I honestly was I I was planning to take this out of this opening is I do have what my family calls the Keel Timber I have my mom's side of the family I have a Kirky temper um 99.9% of the time if I get upset about something um I'm pretty cool and collected but um I I do want to address 1 of the things that came up early earlier and so 1 I I don't really know what the audience members were talking about about some remote position in Dresden so no I've never applied for that position I don't even know what you're talking about CFO and Milan no other than I have told Dr Hamlet I would work for you tomorrow if something ever comes open that was as far as the conversation went have I applied to any position Milan Special School District know show me the I mean Dr Hamlet's their show me the application I did not do it but but I will tell you for that director of math position in Haywood yeah pod for it and I want to make sure I tell you why because 99 99.9% of the time I can keep my K temper in check but I I really got my feelings hurt and really got pretty upset when last December when Dr Hamlet resigned when there weren't internal candidates weren't given the opportunities to apply for that inner and position I got it pretty upset about it and so there was an opening for the director of mathematics job and I could have done that in my sleep but they didn't call they didn't call they didn't call and then I did get a call that they wanted to come come for an interview and at that point that was like early February there were some things that happened and I'm just like you know that's not that's not God's plan um so I did apply for that 1 um and I when they called for an interview I told him no I wasn't interested and they could remove it um so that is true I'm gonna be I'm open and honest about it um I also kind of have a temper about folks saying stuff about me that's just simply not true if I do so I will I I'll be more than happy to address some something I mean riding the questions that you're asking me I don't know when I would have the time to do that so have I written any of these questions no um I'm not really sure what they're talking about about sealed something um Miss Miss Trudy Hughes was not even my direct report the last year and 3 months that I worked for the department so so some of those things I I have no idea what they're talking about but um I will say of the things that happened that the things that were mentioned um that I apply for the position in Haywood yes I did and um and then they called and I declined the interview so I'm going to be open and transparent that's I did that okay so can we um kind of wrap up this section sure sure sure sure sure so be glad to sorry but but um so that's really what you need to know about me I'm a hard worker I know God has a plan in my life I was called to be a teacher and last of all I know I'm here for kids and all right and so with that I would but do I have permission to because I know I want to take notes while you're asking please um all right and if the electron is in the way when uh you move over to this uh side of the uh the board questions uh please feel free to move it out of the way sure so so just as we did uh Friday night we'll begin over on my left um we'll limit the first round of questions from each board member to 5 minutes uh per session and we'll begin with Mr Reeves good evening how are you aligned your strategic Vision with our District's Mission and address our unique challenges such as declining enrollment budget constraints and student achievement okay so I think first of all the board has a 5-year plan and it has the 3 goals in it so I think any superintendent would need to follow the Survivor strategic plan what we did this year in the spring is um ilet efforts for our district to write the Lea plan for next year 1 of the things that we did was to make sure that all the team members that were involved in creating and drafting that plan aligned everything to the Strategic goals so for instance um we made sure that 1 of our strategic goals um dealt with discipline 1 of the goals dealt with CTE in College and Career Readiness 2 of the goals related to um math and Ela science and social studies so I think the first thing you got to do is have a connection between the board's 5-year goal and that 5 year goals and those are the things that you create as a board and the superintendent whoever that may be has to make sure that they're focusing on that second you got to make sure your Lea client is aligned to that now for declining enrollment I think that there's several things that the school system can do 1 I'm an advocate for bringing back our star classrooms in our elementary and middle schools um I think that that's 1 things that we need to do the second thing I think we need to do is to make sure that we're treating our parents and community members right we've got to be at a point where folks and I'm not saying that we have a lot of folks or many that do this but I think that we've got our parents have opportunities and choices that they didn't have before um 1520 years ago um you parents may be only have you know parents had a choice for public school and here in FY County may be the 2 private schools now parents have a choice if they don't want to do that they can homeschool they can do the virtual schools that are offered by other districts they can send their kids to the Municipal School Districts now there's vouchers so we've got to be smarter about how we treat parents when they enter the door at schools we need to be encouraging when they come and need help or have issues we've got to make sure that we're following policy and make them aware of their due process rights um I think doing little things like that and making sure that um we survey them and find out what are they thinking about in the schools what are they seeing that's right what are they seeing that's wrong and then try to um use that data um student achievement um I think 1 of the things that we've got to do is we really need to we really need to go visit some schools that have similar demographics to us and see what works 1 school that I know in particular that if were up to me that our our our um leaders and principals would go visit is the school that's in the Frasier area up in North Memphis it's called Promise Academy Spring Hill um the that school and that area of Memphis Shelby County it is phenomenal what they do with students it's it's probably 90 95% African-American it's in the Frasier um The Frasier um area of you're the Fraser area of Memphis Shelby County Schools it is remarkable what they do with their students as far as writing and stuff and so um I think that's some of the things that we can do can you provide an example of a time you successfully let a district through a significant change or crisis what strategies did you use what were the outcomes all right so I think as far as some changes or crises um I think there's nothing more than what we faced here in fet County during the pandemic um 1 of the things when uh when the pandemic first happen um I'll just be brutally honest we didn't know what to do all of a sudden in March of that year we had to suddenly figure out on the Fly how in the heck are we going to um teach our kids and so I wasn't told to do this I wasn't directed to do it it's just how I am if I see a problem I want to work my tail off and try to to try to come up with a solution so what I and others did is with like in a day or 2 we had to learn because we never really had done it before we had to learn to to use zoom we had to learn how to use all the platforms we did and then on the Fly we created professional development sessions for our teachers staff so they could learn how to use that stuff to teach the kids that final semester um and so it wasn't perfect but I think that the big thing was that I didn't do it alone we did it as a team we all work together to try to offer those tools to teachers so that we could do the best job that that we could do and um and I think the the really the strategy of it is that you know 1 person can't do most tasks alone you've got to use other people on the team and I think for the the quick turnaround that we had we did the best we could and um I think that's probably the 1 that comes to my mind what about how we'll move over that now to Mr Speakman thank you we have 2 uh 2 of our staff and board members that uh they're not with us tonight and uh I don't know the full detail salesman Miss rugs had a bad wreck oh no yeah and so she's uh uh she has some Cuts severe cuts on her face and she's got other things that they're checking her out thoroughly or I don't know exactly when this wreck happened but I know that uh she's not with us and I know that why she's not here and and the picture I looked at was uh it was pretty rough but the wreck that she went through all right so let's think think about her and remember what we should be doing and it go with that same point with Dr Brown Dr Brown is inside hey Francis Hospital he's been there about 4 days so he's uh uh stable enough he's he's in he was in uh had a surgery about 3 weeks ago things didn't go right he's been had extreme pain and was at a point where he had to be where he's at and he'll be there for a few more days at minimum all right well that said I'll I'll shift over and I'm probably only you want to ask 1 question have you uh what's your vision on the Technical High School and deal enrollment so see so technical okay so you're talking about CTE right okay so with CTE I I will be perfectly honest um CTE was introduced to me very early in my career 1 of the things in Haywood County is that when we had a CT we had a CTE director name uh Mr Robert Mitchell who later became the principal and 1 of the things that um he sort of implemented in our school back in the late 1990s is the um it was called high schools at work and so 1 of the key things that I learned very early is that there should be an effort to integrate CTE and academics and so 1 of the things that we did back in the 90s is Math teachers would work with CTE teachers to plan lesson together and do things of that I also have a newer respect for the work that m Christian and others do because in my last year today ASD I had to serve as the CT director um 1 of the things that that when we had the reduction of force our CT director um went to um because of um several reasons with her Ministry decided to work in her home in the county she was working in to be in a principal um the department decided not to rehire anybody for that position so I had to learn how to do all those CTE reports that I had heard Miss Christian and others talk about doing um I think our CT I think our CTE programs are very very important because the fact that they teach skills to those students where they can have jobs or be ready to go to a technical school afterwards for dual enrollment I also have a unique perspective of that because I teach I have taught dual enrollment courses um here at the UTM Somerville Center we've got a unique opportunity for our students to take classes at the center um I've talked college algebra calculus um statistics and other things to our Fiat where students um in the past and so but I think but I think Miss I think chairman here's here's the thing that I think our district probably needs to do a better job of we can offer every CT course that we want we can offer every dual enrollment course we want something I think we got to do a better job of is making sure those kids are ready for those courses when they get to high school that means we've got to do more in our elementary schools and our middle schools to prepare them what a lot of folks don't realize for ACT scores for instance when I used to do training for districts for about ACT people are shocked when they learned that when you look at the ACT standards the things that they're tested on it starts in third or fourth grade you can't wait until High School to get kids ready for the act or dual enrollment or whatever we got started in grade 3 and 4 so I think honestly to make those program is more successful we've got to start focusing on what are we doing in those elementary and middle schools so they're prepared to be successful in those courses okay um what would your top 3 priorities be during the first year if you were chosen as superintendent and how would you begin implementing them all right that's a really good question so I think the 3 the 3 priorities really are are already in um that 5-year plan 1 of them is about invest in our students so I think 1 of the focuses is is how can we better educate our students um I think that starts with professional development 1 of the things that um I know that I've talked with Dr reick and others is that we have currently a lot of teachers who are on permits or are new to the field and I think we need to do some more specific training for those folks because many of them have never taken an education class in their life and then we're placing them in a classroom while they're doing classes so um I think we need to focus on that there's some um there's with teachers it's really about training and making sure that they're equipped and have the tools and resources to do a better job the next thing has to do be the next goal that's in the plan is having to focus on our um staff and faculty um I think 1 of the things that we forget sometimes is that we also need to provide support and training to our non-certified staff and I think we can do a better job um not for to do training for our teacher assistance for all of our other staff members so I think we can do a better job on that um the last of your 5-year goals is focus on the community and I know we can do a better job on including our community and things um I you know there are certain we could do more surveys we could do a lot more things um to involve them in the decision-making 1 of the things that I would do is I would want to start a superintendent's Council where that Council would um would include community members and representatives from each school and it wouldn't be really handpicked by the principal um we'd kind of do like we used to do when tea was active and I'm not you know you see when you had TAA rips there was a rip from other schools and it wasn't it from each school it wasn't like the principal selected it the staff selected who they would want represented and so I think we need to do some things like that where we have regularly monthly meetings so that we can include the community because that Community involves our parents our teachers and our other stakeholders okay kind of answers a little bit of the second question I had so let me move on to um what steps would you take to rebuild trust and attract fa fa County families back to our district so I think that first we have to make sure that our communities our community members know there's a lot of great teachers in this District we have a lot of great students so just for instance I think that we you know I know that a former board stopped letting us do this but back in the day we used to have Billboards on 2 or 3 of the main roads where we would advertise and show some of the great things that we're going on our district for example a couple of weeks ago when I helped I helped be the admin for our Academic Decathlon they won several medals and represented a swell this past weekend our academic pentathlon team that um placed fourth in the nation among seventh graders and eighth uh and and then fifth in the nation among the eighth grade teams um we need to celebrate that um 1 of the things that um I hope Miss Elizabeth puts on face books soon that a lot of folks probably don't know is that 5 of our students got to speak in front of 3 or 4 hundred people that was at that national competition um advertising the good things that are in Tennessee and we and because National will be in Nashville next year um I think that we've got to celebrate some of our veteran teachers like Cindy Smith and um others that are in the district that are those unsung heroes like Miss Mattel at the high school um I could go on and on cut all the great teachers um we've got great teachers in our district and they work their their they work theirselves tirelessly to try to teach our kids um I think we got to honor them and celebrate them and um you know if I'm chosen as your superintendent to you know um I'll do my best to try to do what I can to make that happen thank you yes I'm a scale um looking when I was looking at the state department and some background on you I ran up on 2 so it's your name Edward uh uh Eddie I'm just trying to do it sure my my my real name is that's the 1 I want to know sure my real name is Edward Edward okay my and I'll be honest Mr Wilson the only time I was called Edward my whole life was when I was in trouble and got the Edward Dale kill um thing I just want to make sure I was looking at the same person yes sir and and I will and I will say 1 other back home that was just so you'll know um back Elementary there were 2 Eddie Keels and so that was always confusing because there's 2 of them back home right so your real name is Edward yes sir okay um you you arrives my curiosity when you did your opening and you were very honest about it um you said if something opened up in Mile and you will probably go there um so I think how could we trust that if you received a job that that you're going to stay here you've you've been here before and you left and came back this anybody that's their privilege to do that I'm not against people coming and going but that's the problem with fed kind of now we don't have a lot of stability from the superintendent down press about the high school we've had them almost a million in the last 20 years so in teachers they come and go they don't stay very sure so it needs stability um how do we know if you are accepted as a permanent superintendent that you'll stay here sure that's an excellent question so I do want to make sure you understood what I said because I would say the same thing about Dr Hamlet Dr King Dr Connie um I enjoyed working for them and I would work for them um you know in the future not that I'm looking to to do that whatsoever um I have not applied to or asked Dr Hamlet you know I I I haven't applied for a job in Milan so I want to make sure with that um I think that's a fair question um Mr Wilson here's here's here's really the things that guided me most of my career and I'm going to be brutally honest if if um if I'm treated right I am loyal to a fault to a district or a boss I am I am I mean that's just the way I am um I I'll be be honest I um I'm not 1 that goes looking for jobs I just don't so if so if I'm if I'm selected as superintendent for for this District um I'm planning to stay here I've only got 5 or 10 more years until I retire I mean there's really not a lot of years left I'm I'll turn 56 this fall I'll probably retire in 7 or 8 years um I would like to retire from here if that's what God's plan is but I will say this Mr Wilson if if it's God's plan for me to do something else um no offense I want to follow God's plan okay thank um can you just tell me uh you you're working with the school district now and you're a part of I don't want to call it chaos but all these budget cuts and seemed like we we probably have them again next year we always have them so what would you do differently than we are doing now and approaching the budget process to make sure we don't have all the chaos I'm looking at these dedicated employees who are sitting in this room tonight and they still at this late hour I don't know if they have a job or not at least we could tell them you don't have a job right but we have we haven't done that yet uh what would you do differently so what I do to be honest is um I think that what Knox County does is a model timeline for us to follow 1 of the things that other districts have done which probably would have made this process maybe a little better is um for 1 of the things when you're talking about positions especially at the school level you need to involve the principles earlier and so I think 1 thing that probably should have happened is we should have had projections with our our enrollment to see how many teachers do we really need that probably needs to be done in February early in the game and that way you can bring principles in and if we're truly going to do site-based management at our schools we've got involved princip at the at the early level and so if I'm selected for this position 1 of the things that I would want to do is 1 start the process earlier involve all the department heads especially with the Department budgets but I think the print if we're really going to do site-based management we're going to have to start involving the principles because um 1 of the things that I don't think that we've done in the at least in since 2017 when I've been here is really having principles involved in the budgets for their schools so I think we've got to do that um I totally agree with you I mean we need to let people know earlier and so I think that the way we can do that is start earlier have a specific timeline um and I think that um if you if you look at the way that Knox County did it I'll be honest if I have something to do with it I would like the budget presentation to be more than just a budget but actually have a document that's like 81012 Pages where it's open and period where you see the projections you have math formulas that shows how many teachers we need how many of the auxiliary classes We have basically give you as a board some options um and and I really think that's the best way to go you're exactly right you know and I know that next year that with Tissa we're getting to that 25% Mark most of many people in the audience may not realize with and I don't want to take up all your time but you know that there's there's a lot of things that that are that with Tesla we got in that 25% our our teeth unless enrollment goes up the revenue is going to go down again next year and so I think we got to start the process earlier yeah the last question yes sir I think what some of the people would get net from the state department that the rumor had it that you you you a male a person you know you can make numbers do whatever you want them to do no that's no secret and uh so was it kind of falsifying documents or anything like that at the state department no okay that's all I want no thank you okay well before I start should we ask how we you going to give me at the end okay well most of my questions already been answered but you you do you think this is a focusing document for the organization so big picture I really like the document so so I will say this that is your 5-year plan unless you as a board decide to change it that's what we have to operate under however um I think that you tsba um you know helped us on the previous 1 and I know that on that previous 1 you know Miss Neil Dr Macklin Brown and I were were really instrumental in doing the 1 before that the the previous 1 had specific benchmarks and I think that's what this 1 is missing yes for instance what we had in the previous 1 because Miss Neil Dr Macklin Brown and I were the leads there were a lot of other people involved on me wrong but we didn't the bulk of the work well we had for instance and I'll just give you for instance like it it had the goal about focus on our community but 1 of the things that had is like we and we and I'll be honest we stole this from Knox County too as far as the idea and the kind with it but it had something in there like we would ask um community members 2 or 3 specific questions and what we were looking for is to see that the positive responses would increase over a 4 or 5 year period period it would it would have you know I think that's what's really missing from that about what are the specific metrics we're using to define success right now um there are goals and there are strategies and there are actions steps so there's also whoever you decide is the superintendent they have something to work with I think what's missing though is the performance metrics to determine how are you really defining success in that if that makes any sense yeah my experience would say 2 or 3 or 4 maybe specific things the organization could focus on Beyond this this is many many things to focus it is so that's that's that was my question okay let's assume you have a a good strategic plan how are you going to hold them accountable how do you hold your staff accountable to that so so I think um I think we have some beginning points that we can build upon but 1 of the things things that in both times I was with the Department that they do a really good job on is that each staff member has a smart goal um and I think and what happens is instead of having these G General um performance measures that you have have you basically have the right to create what you think should be your smart goal so I'll give you for instance if I would have in the past year been asked um you know Mr Keel what's what would have been 1 of your smart goals for this past year so 1 of the things could have been around um for instance the the monthly required discipline gifted and um hiring trainings that we had so I could have had a smart Go written about you know I'm going to have so many meetings during the year and the um participation rate would be this and the ratings of the meetings would be like an average of 3.5 out of 5 um it's not so much the goal is dictated upon the employee the employee literally writes with their own smart goal is what the metrics are and then the supervisor whether it's me or a department head would approve it um that's kind of how I was used to doing um also something I'll be honest out of necessity I had to implement this literally this morning um there's so many so when I had my our sing when we had our senior leadership meeting this morning 1 of the things that I asked um our staff members to do for the next few weeks was to give me a weekly update I didn't want a novel or anything but I simply asked you know what did you do last week what are you doing next week what are the fires where are the places I can help you um just it it's really not meant to be a gotcha or anything but with right now um I think those are some little things that we can do for accountability um really my mindset it's I'm not a gotcha person I want to know how can I help and support you so you can be successful in your job because business work is too important I mean we're doing this for kids and so um it's not like I'm try I want to get anyone you know now if somebody does something that's unlawful or unethical or against policy then we got to deal with it but really um no matter if it's department head or me my job you know whether I'm superintendent Chief of Staff dog catcher whatever if I have people that report to me my 1 of my jobs is really to give the people that report to me um the tools that they need to be successful I can't do that if I don't know what you're doing and I can't do that if I don't meet with them 1 last 1 then I'll turn over to how we've used the word Community 75 times tonight what is your definition of community what is the definition of the community well I think in in education um it has to do with stakeholders so who are our stakeholders in a public school system well starts with a parents it starts with a grandparents it starts with the cousins the aunties whoever um it it's our business owners it's our it's it's it's literally everyone in the community because everyone has you're using Community to Community you can't do that well how about the entire County that's how we're going to grow that's how we're going to grow the system well but if I can finish what I was trying to get at is is that when you talk about community it's everyone in that District everyone in that county because whether you have a child or grandchild in the public school system what we we do in our work impacts the whole County regard because I just let's just be real I'm going to retire in about 10 years and I'm going to be on Social Security I need folks to have good paying jobs so they can pay into the Medicare here in Social Security system so I'll have a retirement check when I when I retire we all have a we all have a vested interest no matter who we are in faget County no matter who we are in Tennessee we have a we have a vested interest so in my mind Community is our stakeholders as far as our parents our teachers our staff members our grandparents but big picture that Community is everyone in the county if that makes sense because 1 way or the other we do is the school system impacts the county and and use the word stakeholder versus shareholder why well because so you know as shareholder means that I own a stock or bond in a company skin in the game true but a stakeholder is that everybody has a stake in public education it doesn't matter where you send your kids or who you are we all have a stake in the public school system because a a strong Public School System drives the County okay okay Mr rounds are you there I I can't hear him anybody hear me now yes yes we can hear you now yes yes and and I'm and Mr wrens no offense if I could if I can interject so I he I may have to have someone repeat the question because it's it's still really light for me all right right there uh let's try that yes much better all right um I'll go ahead with a couple of questions the first 1 uh I think our academic problem with Ela the uh reading and the writing has been a problem not just in our schools but across the country and I'd like to know what are the specific elements of your plan for in the classroom fixing that all right I'm glad I'm I'm glad you asked that now I I will be brutally honest as far as when it comes to you know content areas I have much more experience in math than I do Ela but there's I'm have can you hear me can you hear me now Mr rounds okay I couldn't hear you then okay but but what I will say too though is that um most people don't realize I had to do a whole lot of elah training back in the day and so 1 of the things that we did when we talked about reading comprehension for ELA teachers it's really pretty simple and it's really this when you read a text okay I don't care if it's a short story don't care if it's a poem um could be a novel or whatever I think 1 of the things that we need to in still on our teachers is this and that is when you have something at your reading you got to read about it you got to talk about it you got to write about it for reading comprehension for for middle and high school students it really boils down to that it's like are our students reading really good grade level text um a lot of people had issues with common core when it came out and and not to get any politics but 1 of the really good things that came out of common core is that it started making sure assured that we were actually having students read things on grade level now yeah if you're if you're a fifth grader and you're reading it a third grade level you need supports to be able to access that text but big picture we need to expose students to that grade level text and they have to read about it they got to write about it they got to talk about it 1 of the things that um that teachers need to be able to make sure they know is back when I was in school you know we would read a short story 1 day answer some questions and move on um what the latest research says it's really best practice is that you need to do a first read you need to do a second read you need to do a third read to really dig into the vocabulary to really dig into what's the main idea um and so I think Mr Rams as far as Ela is concerned um I think it for the higher grades that's some of the things that has to be done now when it comes to K through 3 I think you got to use the work of Louisa um back in you know now they call it the science of reading but it really goes back to Louisa Moz um 2 former employees here in faget County Miss Deborah Jones and Miss Tiffany Nails I learned quite a bit from them when they used to be the literacy consultants in the core office and what they did back then um so you know back in the day Mr Wilson it was reading first and then it kind of went to um you know the Louisa Moes um materials but basically what they did is they started teaching folks you got to know about graphs and um for a lot I always pronounce it wrong but um the phonemes and graphemes and the awareness of all those things and so I think in the early grades um you know you get into the sight words and other stuff but teachers have to work with those students about what are those sounds and that's what we need to make sure teachers have is that training to do it okay thank you um I I've got a problem too with standards uh if if the standards that guide the content of all the courses don't give uh the student if the standards don't cover things that the students should know how can our schools actually add stuff uh like in the science uh standards they don't talk about levers simple mechanical things like that how can we fix what the kids aren't taught according to the standards without obsessing on how they're going to perform on the TCAP step uh test at the end of the semester okay so I think 2 or 3 things that we can address it um 1 of the things that I think that we may not have emphasized um in the last few years is um differentiated instruction okay so what so in a nutshell if I don't know what that term means it's that when we're teaching a standard to students our low achieving students are sped students are inclusion students they need supports that are quote average students may not but then our kids that might be gifted or high achieving or whatever you want to call them they need to be pushed in areas that um for that and so what I used to do I actually trained teachers in faith County when I was more involved in the academic side um it really has to go with um modeling and differentiated instruction the old I do we do you do and what I used to train folks on and I do it I could do it in my sleep if I had to is when we're ask asking so when we were teaching a skill or a concept so like for instance let's say we're asking a kid how to do long division um I'm going to show them how to do a problem then they're going to help me work the pro problem but then the key thing is when you get to the you do what you do is for our low achieving students our sped students that might be inclusion what I'll do what you do is you have something that um has a lot of structures and supports where might just be that they fill in the blank on certain parts of the problem or I give them prompts on how to do it the B part would be how would that might be something that's on grade level the other thing that we would do for that we would have a third problem if they could could access that might be an honors problem the other way Mr rounds I think you could do it is like your thing on lever um there should be opportunities for students to have enrichment when I taught high school math um I had projects it a lot of times times it really had nothing to do with the standards but back when I taught high school geometry my students will know that we read the novel flat land in my high school geometry classes um they had a project about it we did some we did MC Escher artwork we used to do Tesla ations um there are ways that teachers can embed things that are not in the standards through projects and enrichment and things of that nature so um it could be that our teachers may need more you know need some training on how to effectively do that but there's a lot of ways that you can embed things um that may not necessarily be in a standard encourage that from the administrative side of things I I I didn't hear what you said well go ahead and ask your question we're we're over the 5 minutes but go ahead because we're going to have another round of questions go ahead Mr rounds oh okay um you know to another uh question the history of education is that America's scores compared to the rest of the world and compared to what we used to be have been diminishing for the last 50 years to us I'm wondering if you think that uh the best way to uh correct that Plunge is to go to new ideas or to return to the standards or or the processes we were using back when we were performing better so I I think so I think 1 thing that um so I'm old school and a lot of ways and there are there may be some in the room that remember back in the 80s in Tennessee had something called the Tennessee instructional model and it was based on Madeline Hunter and when I was in college in the late 80s and and when I started teaching in the 90 everything we did was about the Tennessee instructional model and it was built on Madeline Hunter what most people don't realize Mr Rays is like when you go 20 years later and you look at the team rubric half the stuff that used to be in that old tennis the instructional model is in that team rubric that we evaluate teachers on so for instance back in the 80s and 90s when all of us were evaluated under Tennessee instructional model we had to make sure our lessons had a set and is Missouri set we had to have a closure and there were other required elements that that that model had all of that still in the team rubric so um the way I look at it is good instruction is good instruction um the why I teach may not be exactly the way you teach but I think the team rubric and what's in it it it really has those old school teaching practices it's just worded a little different way and um that's kind of how I look at that to be perfectly honest there's um there's an old saying that you know whatever old is new again and so a lot of these same ideas come around every few years where they're repackaged to be honest the team rubric is really just a repackaging of what we did 2030 years ago with the Tennessee instructional model and if I do training you know when I did trainings in the past and if I would do support now um I still go back to that Madeline Hunter roots okay so that will complete the first round of questions we can do a full second round of questions or if there are board members who uh do not care to uh uh have um further questions we can we can do it as needed um we'll start off with Mr reads Mr reads do you have questions I'm good you you do know I don't I okay Mr Speakman I'm good Miss trim I do not Mr Wilson I did have 1 on the CTE program yes sir um how are you how would you use the data uh to evaluate student outcomes and um so that that would help them attain um when we dealing with that license over there so I think there's several things Mr Wilson that we could do to really evaluate the success to be honest CTE does some of the best jobs on evaluating it um they have indicators that they have to to follow um and I'm going to be honest um Dr Macklin Brown and Miss Christian will put me to shame on what those CT indicators are um but I think 1 of the things that you've got to look at is what the state of Tennessee does is they compare ACT scores of CTE completers versus the other students they look at um epso rates of the CT completers versus that and let's just be real the data shows in most cases those CT completers outperform um most of our other students um I do think that 1 of the things that um that we've got to look at you know is making sure they have the number of epos and the industry credentials so they get ready to graduate status that's really important for us because we can get extra dollars and Tissa if we have more students get that um so I think to be honest we really don't need to reinvent the wheel we we really just need to use the indicators that the CT Department already has and I think we got to look closely at those indicators that are embedded in Tissa um I really think you know to me if you were looking at all of it to be perfectly honest I really think the industry ials and um those dual enrollment credits are the things that um I would look at more than ACT scores even though the ACT scores are are kind of important too okay and the last 1 you you um used to be an instruction coach of instructional facilitator I believe yes sir and of course we cut all those from our programs this year even before the year started yes sir and now we're making further cuts to other areas so how do you think cutting all these programs would improve teaching and learning um that's that's an excellent question this this and I'm to be honest um there are I wish some of these decisions had been made before now to be honest because 1 of 1 of the things that 3 or 4 years ago there were leaders in this district there were leaders in the state that warned all of us about what's called the Esser Cliff um 1 of the things that we did when we had all that Esser money was like a lot of these positions that you're talking about like instructional coaches um like many other salary positions they originally were in other funding sources and then put an Esser and then when the Esser dollars went away um there's not really anywhere for those things to be in the budget I think I think what has to happen Mr Wilson is um we've got to have tough conversations about what what do we you know what do we need what's going to work to be honest a lot of those conversations you know probably need to be made earlier this year through the budget process but we are where we are right now um if if it were up to me what I think we've got to do is once the you know once we start whoever is the superintendent what's next year it's going um I'm a Believer we need instructional facilitators and instructional coaches now we may not have the ability down the road to have 1 in every school the way we used to but I I truly believe we need some of those folks um we may have to rethink what we do in federal because to be honest when I was with the district before those were in the title 1 budget um that got changed in the last few years and so um and there's different positions that are entitle 1 that used to not be there um instructional coaches were entitled 1 and then they were taken out and put back um when I was here previously they were in they were in Title 1 so I think we got spoiled with the Esther money and I I think that um we just got to be more strategic on what we really have and I think at some point we've got to make a decision about um people over products we we may be spending way too much money on software packages and products and we may want to use that money for um for personnel instead um I think we've got a lot of tough decisions and not only now but in the next year um with the stuff that's going to happen when we are 100% funded Batista okay and last 1 prec they seen to be a lot of interest in that tonight and I heard some speakers talking about his back on the table and that kind of thing uh when I look at the budget I don't see the entire program being back on the table and even if it's on to tell you it has to be passed by the County Commission also has to go to the state before we have Pre-K or any part yes sir the budget will sending to the County Commission is not a balanced budget then the income and the expenses don't match so I don't know where we are with that you've been working with the budget some where so so so all I can speak to really at this point with Pre-K is um I was asked last week before um I went with the Baton students to get with um Mr Mika Bryant who's the Pre-K director and what we were charged with was to look at how we could save the state funded pre-k classrooms 1 of the things things that um was brought up I think a week or 2 ago that I had done a little research on was that any plan you can go to other districts um Pre-K application or any application to be honest uh once it's approved to see how they handle things um what I researched was in Haywood hardaman Henderson and Tipton County how do they handle the local match so what you may not realize and this is really confusing and I'm gonna be honest Miss Bryant had you explained to me um to make sure that I was right on this piece is that the way voluntary Pre-K works and I just want to make sure all the board members realize this is that it's hard to understand but artisa funding the what's called fun iterators that's only our K12 students so what that means is if we have 200 Pre-K students we don't get a nickel in ta funding for that now to be honest politically I know I'm not trying to get into politics and to politics here but um that's a shame that the legislature didn't put Tissa dollars and attach it to those Pre-K students we don't control that I don't control it so what I researched Mr Wilson was the local match portion so what the state does for those state funded classrooms is they allocate a certain dollar amount per classroom I don't remember what it is off the hand because Miss Bryant had it she told me what it was what happens is is when you look at what's put in the budget the state gives us 70% 30% has to be what's called a local match and so you as a board and I'll be glad to explain this in more detail if if you need me to but basically what our district did in the past is we took money from the funds generated from k12 and use that for the local match by creating those extra classrooms so that's what was done in the past that is an option that you and the board have what types and County does is they do their local match and they fund some additional classrooms through Title 1 funds that's an option but then another way that other districts did it and this is what I found in Haywood and Henderson and Hardeman County is that what they did is they use their local match by existing employees and if you think about it it makes sense it's like if we're paying for a security guard at Buckley Carpenter 5 or % of that person's job is dealing with Pre-K students if I have a librarian if I have an art teacher if I have a principal you can charge 10 5 or 10% of that person's salary for the local match so what Miss Brian and I worked on together um as directed by Dr Lewis was to take that information and how could we Salvage and save those 7 prepaid classrooms and let me be clear I believe in pre-K I do I I don't want to do away with it and Miss Brian and I you know work you know worked hard to make sure that we gave you all our proposal that could save it um but technically to be honest you've got 3 options um you know now if if you go to the title 1 route I'm going to be honest it's going to decimate the budget and that's going to cause a whole lot of problems I would not recommend doing that but I mean you do you as a board I mean you know you have an option of of of um funding out of that K2 piece but what's going to happen I'm just going to be honest if you choose to do that there's going to have to be a whole lot more Personnel Cuts than what you already have um I mean it's just the facts so you as a board have a choice but I will say that um Mr Miss Bryant and I you know worked hard to to salvage that and it's now up to you whether you choose to do that or not okay thank you Mr Miller do you have any questions no I'm dead okay so I think that Mr rounds do you have any more questions yes I have just 1 basically the uh the relationship between can you hear me all right yes sir yes sir okay the relationship between the board and the administrative side of things actually running the school system is very important um there's a lot of responsibility in the administrative side of things supervising it if a board member or board members start uh overreaching their Authority and actually going to people uh who are Staffing offices and that sort of thing and uh basically pressuring or telling them what to do how is the best way for uh you to retain uh your Authority actually being the boss of everything except yourself here all right so Mr brand I'll be honest um can you fix that again okay so um Mr Rams to be honest um when when I was named the temporary interim superintendent um if I'd have been here 1 of the first things I would have done was to have a meeting with the cab staff and then have a meeting with the senior leadership staff have a meeting with the principals and then with the finance team because there's a lot of you know I wanted to make sure they would know you know what expectations I had I needed to know from them what were the fires what were the things that needed to urgently be done because um for a variety of reasons um so I did that this morning and so in the senior leadership meeting I I addressed that to be honest and really what I told them and I haven't written down in my notes because this morning I wanted to make sure that um I I was clear on what they said and I have my notes from this morning and this is in essence what I said I said if a school board member asks you for information or to do something um there's really just 1 simple question you got to ask yourself and this is what I told him this morning I said and I told them what do this for a parent or a Community member and if you can answer yes then do it and just courtesy copying if it's if the answer is no just say let me check with Mr Keel and we'll get back to you and then email me or text me calming um I was pretty clear with my expectations if I'm selected as your next superintendent that's how I would handle it okay um that will conclude the interview session um before uh I I I believe you may have a few brief closing remarks no closing well just just 1 thing okay so so before you start uh Mr K uh I've been asked by the community do you have a few moments after we adjourn to uh take some questions from community members if there are any questions that they would all right sure okay I mean I I have nothing to hide so uh if you'll proceed with your closing remarks sure well really just I I'll keep this much shorter and sweeter than I did my opening um I do just want to say thank you for this opportunity um and I'm being brutally honest um you as the board you you have a tough decision I I will tell you that um in last few months that um our team here at cab has received some extensive HR training from the equity Assistance Center in Atlanta and 1 of the things that they have been teaching us about are things that I'll be honest I I really didn't know a lot about like Affinity bias and and different biases and things and so big picture what they have trained us to do is that when you're looking to find a candidate for a position no matter what is no matter if it's a teacher system a teacher a principal or whatever um you look at the background the qualify take the qualifications the skills and what they're able to do and and all I ask and I think that's all the community add is that when you're looking at the finalists just look at their qualifications look at their job experience look at what they have done in the past what they can do and just pick the best person um if I'm that person great if I'm not that's okay too um I really just you know I think really all the community asks is that you know it it really shouldn't matter you know anything else it's really about you know can they do the job and if you think I'm the person be happy to serve if not um that's okay too and with that um that's all I have to say Mr K thank you are there any community members that would have we're not here to have uh to engage in any kind debate but are there any community members that would have specific questions of Mr K that you would like to ask yes ma'am would you step forward please do you want to Marlon when you put if you would if you would like you could come around and set perhaps in Ms Maguire's seat and I'll do that so I can because I don't want to have my my my I don't want to have my back to the audits for you Mr velocity it doesn't all of those mics are okay today I stand before the board I don't think it's too much of a as of a question but just me standing here worked in the corporate position the last 2 interviews myself as a community leader I do not feel like the it is that we have interviewed are up to standards or what I will be looking for for a person to stand into leadership role for my child they may be great to work in the school system to teach but as a leader I do not think that they fit the position ma'am could you identify yourself oh my name is Latoya Parker and I'm a resident of Oakland okay Miss Parker could you just direct your if you have a specific question of Mr K okay yes so Mr Ed Ed when you came up you lost me when you started your interview off at your opening statement when you said if I get the job it's okay if I don't get the job it's okay so to me being an advocate for the it did not show compassionate confidence or commitment I read your resume I do not think that you won't be a good fit for the job but when you leave the people as if you're not confident that will be a great leader for the job it leads me astray so I sat back there and I lost all confident in you sitting in your interview so I asked if you was able to redo the interview what would you say different because as myself sitting here as a community leader I read your resume you seem like a math genius we haven't budget issues you seem like you could be a good leader you stated you have a temper being a leader I worked as a leadership in a federal penitentiary Mr Parker accent yeah and how how and I think it's a good question how can you serve as a leader the highest position in the school if you have a temper and you do not and sometime you say you just so I think you so I asked even had to go back and ask my yeah what do you think about I let them listen to your interview and they said the same thing this person just signal lack of compassion confident and commitment to the job the passive is indifference you just it just a great fit thank you Miss Parker sure you so I'll be I'll be happy to so so I'll be happy to explain what I meant um as far as so the first thing as far as that if I get the job I'll be okay and if I don't I'll be okay I'm really addressing that to God's will because I know in my life that there are times when I have applied for jobs that I didn't get it I feel like that was job that was God's will I feel like that there are times that you know there's a most of the time to be honest most of the time when I've applied for a job you know I've received it but I'm not you know it it may be you know it's just how I am I mean I can't I'm not going to fake it I'm not gonna it's just that's just how I am I'm gonna be honest um I'm I know God's gonna take care of me regardless do I want the job yeah I I want the job but if I don't get it I'm I'm going to be okay here here's the thing for me and I'm and I'm being I'm being really honest is that I do this for kids if if I didn't care about kids I mean why would I and Miss civil Miss civil over here can attest that I did this if I don't care about kids if I'm so full of myself about doing the hard work why in the world was I the 1 when with with 20 30 40 pieces of luggage I could easily ask 1 of the chaperones that was on this trip to do the work for me but I'm about getting work done I don't care what it is so I was the 1 that Sunday afternoon being dead tired like I'm being dead tired right now I was on the back of that bus handing folks luggage so their kids could go home I'm about doing the work I I am and look I'm just the type of person I'm not going to fake it if you ask ask me a question I'm going to be as as brutally honest as I can be I care about our Fiat County students but at the same time if I have to serve in a different role if if I if I go back to my chief of staff role I was I like what I was doing um I mean honest and so I have a passion for our students um I want them to succeed I don't care if they're I don't care who they are who their family is I want them to succeed and so um I'm not going to apologize for saying what I said because I'm in it but I think I I can see where you might have understood that I was being nonchalant and flippant um that that's not the case at all um whatever my job is I give my all and um that's that's kind of where I am remember you're around people have everybody in here may know you but when you're interviewing it's a business you know we got to think about walking in on the job it's a business so people may not know you so go in with compassion in that they kill you yes ma'am thank you Miss Parker Mr K we're going to move on to 1 more question from the community yes ma'am excuse me my name is phelma Jones yes ma'am and I'm all about Pre-K I love Pre-K too and I'm all about my classes being funded and not to 6 classes so my question I already know there's a budget shortfall that's why we have the commissioners that's where they come in to help us with that budget fund but budget shortfall we pay property taxes we pay sales taxes that's where the school money comes from so your job would be to take the full need that we need to fully fund Pre-K take it to the commissioners we have a board that doesn't want to do that with you talk to the board or encourage them to do that so it's a good because it's only 30% we're getting 6 40 we can eat 60% from the state we only need 40% to fund it fully so how would you encourage our board to to take what we need the shortfall to the Commissioners so that they can take care of our shortfall so that's that's a good question and I can I can tell you 2 or 3 things that not only I could do but all community members could do so um I don't have the numbers in front of me it's off the top of my head when Miss Brian and I worked on this last week I think the difference I think the local match portion was somewhere between 350,000 and 450,000 which was the required match off the top of my head those other classrooms um basically the way the state determines what should be for each classroom it's a little over a hundred thousand dollars per classroom because says basically what happens is in a Pre-K classroom you've got to have a Pre-K teacher so that's going to be 50-60 thousand dollars plus benefits um you add about 30 you add about a third of that so if we're talking if it's a 000 Gallery 30 a third of that is about 20,000 so that's 800,000 you have to have a teacher assistant that's 20 to 25,000 so that's really where that 100 10500 comes in and so I think 1 thing that all the citizens and Faith County can do is if you truly believe that the County Commission needs to fund those extra classrooms then you've got to advocate for it you've got to email you've got to send letters you got got to show up at meetings and let them know that the the superintendent though the way I've been trained is um is in a unique position and this is just how I was trained and and if I'm chosen to be the Super send it um I'm going to behave the way that I was trained is that um and my former jobs whether it Dr King was my superintendent or Dr Connie or Dr Hamlet or whoever um here's things that are decided that when you're discussing it as a leader you you know you know you may not you know you you'll you'll have your opinion you'll have your Void Viewpoint and I'll just tell you the way I am if somebody asked my opinion about something I'm they'll let them know what it was no matter what my role is but at some point a decision has to be made and when you're a superintendent 1 of the things that's just fact is that if if a board votes for something the superintendent has a duty to implement what the board has voted on um a superintendent may not agree with it a superintendent may have they may have have done it different ways but their Duty bound to do it because I'll just is you know for instance if you know if I'm told not to do something you know if I've done you know if I've done some you know if I've done something wrong in a job or done something I may not have done um I would hope that my supervisor would you know let me know hey Eddie you you did this did this wrong song you need to fix it if I repeatedly do that thing though that's insubordination so as a superintendent if if the board's voted to do something and you choose not to do it you know it starts getting closer and closer to insubordination so I will say this um if I'm chosen as a superintendent I'll give the board members my recommendation and my opinion it's their choice as a board to decide whether they follow it or not um and that's just really how A superintendent job is I mean it really is um so I don't know I don't know what else to say but it's like if I'm asked for if I'm asked my opinion I'm going to tell it um I hope whoever selected the superintendent that you know um I hope that they will make sure and ask for if the superintendent has any recommendations on the things that they do and if they ask me I'll I'll tell them um ultimately the board has to decide on that so um now I may need to ramble but that's just kind of how I am with this kind of stuff so okay so I think Mr Keel had said that he might be willing to hang around for a few more minutes once we adjourn but uh if you want to come talk to him face to face person to person think he's willing to do that I'll be glad to see Miss civil did you want to ask a question I I can't I can't deny Miss civil we didn't give Dr MC first in this opportunity uh well actually we did you ask him he to do this kind of interaction uhuh well I mean that's I'll let Miss civil ask a question I don't know any I'll be more I'll be I'll be more than happy to answer a question from his civil any who um Mr kill you answered a question and they ask you to Define what the community was and it struck me as odd that you included the entire community as a superintendent of fagg County Public Schools your first duty is to the students the family yes the stakeholders the actual stakeholders in our schools system not the entire County although we all pay taxes but as the superintendent would you agree that your first community are the students the families and the staff of course that you are over so now will you give us the definition you have for community well so the Civil we may have to to agree to disagree on this but I think the first I totally agree with you when we're talking about our stakeholders the first people that we need to go we need to talk with are the parents are the students are the staff members but I'm a you know you may disagree with me on this but I also think part of the community are the business owners give you a for for instance I give you that business because I give you that so so and there's a lot of other folks because I'll just give you a for instance you know with CTE you have to have a CTE Advisory Board and you have to um make sure that the business industry and the other people in the community you know are we are we you know are we giving them you know do our students have the skills the soft feels to be successful in the workplace um well and that's really the main thing is that your job is superintendent is to be responsive serve directly and that would be the families and the students I don't disagree with you there yes thank you Mr chair yes ma'am okay so do I have a motion to adjourn okay so we're adjourned and Mr K if you want to hang around for a second I'll be glad to yeah

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