Across the Board - January 17, 2023

Published January 18, 2023

The School Board approved the 2023-24 School Calendar, open-zoned schools and Late Start and Early Release dates at its January 17 regular meeting. 

During his report, Superintendent Jason Golden thanked attendees and public commenters. He spoke about upcoming community strategic planning meetings and encouraged the public to attend one of the five sessions. Golden also spoke about the third-grade retention law from the State and said the district would be sending letters to parents at the beginning of February.

In Student Spotlights, 15 high schoolers were recognized for their perfect ACT composite scores. Brentwood High's Nihar Sanku and Zachary Villaruz, as well as Franklin High's Jason Bowles, Jade Horne, Joshua Murray, Jack Parker and Jonathan Zink, were all honored. Independence High's Rylee Lent and Nolensville High's William Flanigan were celebrated, as were Page High's Evan Ingmire, Pharris Livingston and Eugene Smalley. Several Ravenwood High students were also recognized: Margaret MacGurn, Caleb Park and Siddharth Singh.

Brentwood High's Helen Corey and Jaehyeon Sung were recognized for being part of the Middle Tennessee Band and Orchestra Association (MTSBOA) All-State Band. Franklin High's Harley Gallers, Caedmon Goettel, Judy Hsu, Jessica Huang, Rinaz Jamal, Jason Johnson, Finn Saylor, Sam Swan, Lukas Varden and November Varden were also honored. Nolensville High's Nora Romano and Page High's Jack Jones, Caden Mohnke and Peter Singletary were celebrated as well. Emily Barnes, Joseph McCoy and Isabelle Motsenbocker from Ravenwood High were also recognized.

Students were also celebrated for being part of the MTSBOA All-State Orchestra. Ivy Allen, Andy Gan, Noah Kim, Joanna Li, Geon Park, Elizabeth Park, Gordon Sheng, Amy Xu and Brian Xu from Brentwood High were among those recognized, as was Noah Murray from Centennial High and Dylan Cook and Chloe Robinson from Franklin High. Independence High's William Honken-Kraus was honored along with Nolensville High's Jason Lim and Ethan Oh. Ravenwood High's Sydney Doak, Luka Hernandez-Palmer, Phoebe Kelso, Megan Loh, Mitchell Loh, Jason Wang, Sophia Wang and Brayden Zhang were also recognized.

In Staff Spotlights, Mill Creek Elementary teacher Lauren Hawks was recognized as the 2022 Literacy Association of Tennessee Reading Teacher of the Year.

In New Business, the Board:

• Approved the following 2022-2023 School Board Budget Items:
  
  • General Purpose School Fund Amendment CTE Middle School STEM Grant - $29,998
  • General Purpose School Fund Resolution Intercategory Transfer Salary 2022-2023 - $9,214,688
• Approved the following Board Policies on First Reading:
  
  • Field Trips
  • Report Cards and Grading Systems
  • Vacations and Holidays
• Approved the Board Policy 4.603 Promotion and Retention on First and Final Reading
• Approved 2023-2024 Opened and/or Closed Zoned Schools (Annual Agenda Item)
• Approved 2023-2024 Proposed Calendar (Annual Agenda Item)
• Approved 2023-2024 Late Start/Early Release Schedule

In Other Business, the Board:

• Approved the Consent Agenda, which includes:
  • Approval of November 28, 2022 School Board Meeting Minutes
  • Recommendation for Field Trip Fee Requests
  • Annual Review of Board Policies (Annual Agenda Item)
  • City of Brentwood's Request for Sanitary Sewer Utility Easement at Scales Elementary School
  • Resignation of Math Textbook Committee Member and Approval of Replacement

The Board meeting in its entirety is available on the WC-TV YouTube channel.

The next regular meeting will be Monday, February 20, at 6:30 p.m.