MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION  MINUTES October 2, 2023  Thel Montgomery County Board of Education convened in a regular monthly meeting on Monday, October 2, 2023, at 6:30 pm in the Montgomery County Schools Boardroom. Board members present were Steve W. DeBerry - Chair, Tommy Blake- Vice Chair, Angela Smith, Lynn Epps, Anne Evans, and Cindy Taylor. Bryan Dozier was not present.  Chairman Steve DeBerry called the meeting to order. Mr. DeBerry moved to adopt the agenda with a request to: make an amendment to add the Financial Audit listed in section I. Cindy Taylor made the motion with Anne Evans seconding. The agenda was accepted with  unanimous approval from the board.  Chairman Steve DeBerry shared an opening devotional with a reading from "Philippians 4:13". "I can do everything through him who gives me strength".C Give your dream a try today no matter what others say. "Id can'tdoit", never yet accomplished anything. "I will try" has  performed wonders.  West Middle School students Daisy Russell and Cristian Hernandez and Montgomery Central High School students Devin Hurley, Caleb Gonzales, Jordan Jarrell, and Teresa Guatemala Ramirez led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America.  No one signed up to speak during the public comments section.  Chairman DeBerry called upon Dr. Ellis and Adam Matthews for the Certified and Classified Employees oft the Month for West Middle School. Suzannah Laucher, guidance counselor was the certified winner. Preston Little, custodian, was the classified winner. Dr. Ellis called upon Anne McLean for the Certified and Classified Employees ofthe Month for Montgomery Central High School. Talitha Auman, math teacher was the certified  winner and Claudette Cuthrell, ISS was the classified winner.  Chairman DeBerry requested to approve the consent agenda. Tommy Blake made the Chairman DeBerry called upon Mitch Taylor and Dale Smith with Anderson, Smith and Wike to discuss the audit report for the 2022-2023 school year. Mr. Smith stated that the report was clean with no errors and the district's finances were expended properly. The audit report is divided into two sections, one being finance and the other compliance. Total assets were $5,252,094. With the COVID funding set to expire in a year, we feel it has been a very wise budgeting strategy by the board to increase its fund balance to the current level in anticipation of the loss of this federal funding. Montgomery County Schools has no issues and continues to  motion, with Lynn Epps seconding. The board approved unanimously.  maintain good financial shape.  Chairman DeBerry called upon Adam Matthews for the West Middle AVID Presentation. Mr.. Matthews introduced the AVID teachers, Ms. Shawanna Long, Ms. Kim Simpson, Mr. James Simpson and AVID students Laila Smith, Daisy Russell and Cristian Hernandez. Ms. Long    stated that this was her fifth-year teaching in the district and her second year teaching AVID. She along with Kim and. James Simpson attended the AVID Summer Institute in San Antonio, Texas. This was an awesome experience and we brought back a lot ofinformation to share during professional development with other teachers. AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination and its mission is to prepare students for college and career success. Ms. Long explained that they invited guest speakers to come speak with thes students about various careers and success in their communities. A few oft the careers represented were nurse, cosmetologist, real estate agent, and mortgage broker. The students were given an interview sheet and were able to lead the discussion with the guest speaker. Laila Smith, 7th grade, a former AVID student spoke about how AVID helped her toi improve. She stated that in 6th grade she was not performing well with grades or attitude but because of AVID she is now a student athlete,a member oft the junior Beta club and part oft the school student government association. AVID helped her get on the right path and she is looking forward to next year. Ms. Simpson then spoke about how the teachers use AVID strategies to relate academic skills to real world skills. Skills such as goal setting, time management, communication, and career exploration with the ultimate goal to be college ready. Cristian Hernandez then spoke about how AVID has helped with his organization and time management skills. He feels like the skills he has learned will help him to be college ready and get into Montgomery County Early College. Daisy Russell stated that she is thankful for AVID because 6th grade was not a good year for her, but she started AVID in the 7th grade and her grades improved and she is now: int the Beta club. She has learned how to take notes and feels like she is college ready. Mr. Simpson then spoke about all the great things they learned and the great people they met at the Summer Institute. They have since shared what they learned with their colleagues at West Middle School to hopefully have AVID available in all the classrooms. Mr. Matthews then stated that at the beginning oft the year kickoffone of! his proudest moments was watching teachers leading teachers. Our goal is to have. AVID in every class.  Chairman DeBerry called upon Anne McLean for the Montgomery Central High Forensic Science Presentation. Ms. McLean then called on Ms. Sarah Talbert to speak about the Forensics Science class. Ms. Talbert stated that Forensics is STEAM in action. The students employ Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math to solve problems. Some oft the ways they do this is through crime scene sketching and fingerprinting which use, geography, math, art, and chemistry to complete. They also use language skills to analyze historical and geographical data and apply this science to real world situations as well as increasing their observation skills. Teresa Guatemala Ramirez, 10th grade, then explained the process of drawing a crime scene and how they use. math, art, and geography to make the drawing very precise. Caleb Gonzales, 11th grade, demonstrated the use of! bindles to collect and preserve evidence. Jordan Jarrell, 11th grade, explained the process of fingerprinting, and demonstrated the use of superglue to make a fingerprint appear. Devin Hurley, 11th grade, then explained the process of Forensic Anthropology which is the use of bones to identify and determine an individual's height, gender and Chairman DeBerry called upon Wade Auman for the Testing Data Presentation. Mr. Auman, Ms. Terri Absher and Dr. Takeda LaGrand presented the 2022-2023 accountability and testing results. The presentation covered data from the 2018-2019 school year through the 2022-2023 school year. The discussion covered Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Comparison Sample, Analysis, Implications with Principles and District Leaders, and Test Results. In 2019-2020 72.47% of our students received free/reduced lunch but beginning with the 2023-2024 school year wev will be at 100% as we have qualified for CEP. Three of our schools earned grades ofc or above and six of our schools earned a grade ofD. We would like to note that Page Street School, which received an F in the previous year, is now al D. Math Ie exceeded expected growth while fourth, fifth, sixth, and eighth grade met expected growth. As for reading, third grade and English II exceeded expected growth while fifth, sixth and  even their diet.    eighth grades met expected growth. Fifth grade science and biology exceeded expected growth. As shown in our data eight of our schools met or exceeded expected growth. However, seventh grade math and reading did not meet expected growth. Mr. Auman stated that there are a lot of changes taking place at that time in a student's life but that they will be focusing on those areas as they move into their School Improvement planning. We met the state average for grade 61 math and biology. We outperformed our peer districts for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade math and we met or exceeded 13/18 accountability measures. Our graduation rate is high at 94.5%. Mr. Auman stated that the key point is to look at the growth model because it shows where the child is at and then it shows where you have taken them. This growth is reflected in the school grade improvement as the students reach high school and early college. Overall, our students enter with varying levels of readiness, but we grow them by providing the  resources and strategies to be globally competitive.  Chairman DeBerry then called upon Wade. Auman for the Teacher and School Leader Incentive Grant Presentation. Mr. Auman stated that to further the work on the previous presentation we have been looking for different avenues to reward our teachers for their hard work as well as looking at a model to incentivize more teachers to come to Montgomery County Schools. We partnered with Research Associates to write a grant to meet the needs oft the Montgomery County Schools in a way that we are focusing not only on our students but our teachers as well. This grant is through the Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program that is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and only twenty-two oft these grants were given nationwide. Our presentation is called Teacher and Principal Effectiveness Acceleration in Montgomery (T.E.A.M). The submitted grant has two goals. Goal #1: redesign HCM (Human Capital Management) and enact PBC (Performance Based Compensation); Goal #2: develop and increase teacher and school leader effectiveness. Montgomery County Schools was awarded $21 million over three years. The initiatives begin on October 1, 2023, and all the incentives will be based upon the current school year. With approval from the USDOE, we will have the option to extend the grant for an additional two years based on performance. The PBCwill be only for teachers and instructional personnel as the grant is formulated for instructional only. On the individual level, a certified teacher who meets growth will receive a $1,500 bonus, ifthey exceed growth, they will receive $4,000. Ifthes school meets growth all instructional personnel will receive a $2,000 bonus and ifthe school exceeds growth, they will receive $4,500. Therefore, ifa certified teacher exceeds individual growth and the school exceeds growth, the teacher will receive al bonus in the amount of $8,500. Mr. Auman noted that this amount will also count towards retirement. The second component of the PBCis for the administration. The principals, ifrated effective at their Summary Evaluation will receive $5000, ifthey are rated highly effective, they will receive $8,000. Ifan assistant principal is rated effective, they will receive $2,500, ift they are rated highly effective, they will receive $5,000. The principals'assistant principals will need to meet multiple data points to receive the bonus, however, growth will be the only data point focused on for the teachers. Another component of the grant is Instructional Leadership Development. This component is to ensure that our beginning teachers are being mentored and at the same time allow our teachers to be teacher leaders. The teacher would receive $1,250 for a ten-month commitment to be a mentor for al beginning teacher. There is also a component for an effective principal to mentor a new principal/assistant principal to receive $2,700 fora a twelve- month commitment. Another component that was written into this grant was the High-Needs Retention. This component is intended to reward and retain experienced effective teachers in our high need schools. An effective or highly effective teacher will receive $1,750 ift they commit to the next school year. Mr. Auman stated that a teacher could potentially receive a bonus in the amount of$11,500. This should be an excellent incentive to grow and remain in Montgomery County as well as recruit other highly effective teachers to our schools. This program will be presented to the principals on Wednesday at the principals meeting sO that they can take this information back to their teachers. We will be working with    our Marketing Department to prepare flyers that we can take to recruitment fairs as well as putting the information on the district website. Dr. Ellis stated that we have also received an additional $3.2 million stand-alone Gear-Up grant that will provide for an additional 577 students. This grant will bei in Chairman DeBerry called upon Dr. Emily Shaw for policies for approval. Dr. Shaw stated that there were seven policies associated with parental rights that were up: for approval by the board. Chairman DeBerry then asked for a motion for approval. Lynn Epps made the motion with Tommy Blake  effect for seven years.  seconding. The motion carried unanimously with the board.  Chairman DeBerry called upon Dr. Dale Ellis for the Superintendent's S Comments. Dr. Ellis stated that a couple of months ago he gave aj presentation to DPI and leaders across the state about grants and sustainability. I want to thank Mr. Auman and all of the Curiculum/Leaming: division and the Accountability department for the great job that they do. I do not do anything. They do all the work and do a tremendous job ofit. I just get to smile and say thank you tot them because ultimately it is a lot of work. Every grant, no matter the dollar amount that we, get, is all thanks to them and the great] job they  do. Icannot say enough about them. Just keep doing what you are doing.  Chairman DeBerry then asked for a motion to go into closed session to discuss personnel and consult the board attorney. Anne Evans made the motion, with Lynn Epps seconding. The board approved  entering closed session unanimously.  After closed session the following items were approved: 1) Board Minutes from September 7, 2023 EOY Review 2) Board Minutes from September 11, 2023 3) Personnel and Auxiliary Reports:    4) Budget Resolution Corrected:  BUDGETH RESOLUTION: 2023-2024 Montgomery County Schools  Zay G2i    5) Budget Amendment #1:  Budget Amendment#1  BudgetA  BudgetA Amendment#1  Ca  D2x    6) School and Law Enforcement MOU 2023-24  mara.m.medc.s masabas Hb  me-fans thshpr wEVlan 7-1333  Galfese JELN de  9/2/23 Bedial G  Slujps 13182. w3/3ARC3S -Plher  dAa  Upon return to open session, Chairman DeBerry asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Lynn Epps made the motion with Cindy Taylor seconding; the meeting was duly adjourned. The next regular meeting will be held on Monday, November 6, 2023, at 6:30 pm at the  Montgomery County Central Office.  OoLave Dale Ellis, Ed. D., Secretary  Steven W. DeBerry,  Ax