Tucker Cluster Council Virtual Meeting Agenda with Minutes from November 16, 2021
Welcome Introduction – Sabrina Chambers & Stephanie Wilson (TCC Co-Chairs
Stephanie Wilson – called the meeting to order at 6:30pm – welcomed everyone – looking forward to hearing updates from our principals, superintendents and board members. Congratulations to Smokerise for being selected as National Elementary and Secondary Education Act Distinguished School by the GaDoE – one of 2 schools selected for national recognition, passed off to Sabrina Chambers as moderator
i. School Updates (Including COVID) from Tucker Cluster Principals
Livsey- Principal Shawna Pickett – Movie on the Green – 1st one – great outdoor event -over 700 people! PTO is fabulous- 1st chance to be together as a whole community; Whooo’s Reading raised over $24,000 – Mrs Pickett kissed a pig as a result; Book Fair is going on right now; Girls who Game – girls are loving it – new club this year; received recognition as a Title 1 Distinguished School
Brockett – Ms. Gail Browning (Standing in for Principal Seabrook) – IB program – as they learn more and receive training – using Title 1 funding to fund subs – teachers are embracing – really excited to learn all there is about the IB program – teachers writing their first units – some have completed 2 units; PTA is starting up FBI -Fathers Being Involved – dads will be assisting with arrival and dismissal at Brockett
Tucker High – Principal – Dr. Eric Parker – Graduation rate took slight decline, but still in good place – above district and state averages; a lot of variables go into the grad rate; saw some gains in student attendance – a lot of students are re-enrolling from virtual learning; getting back to 93-94% attendance rate; community partnerships are increasing again – work based learning – with Habitat for Humanity – parents coming back on board to start PTA again- excited to be reinstituting PTA – still have 3 staff positions vacant that they are working diligently to hire for; Football has finished – but basketball, swim & wrestling are currently in season; fine arts program is continuing to grow and blossom; starting a mock trial team – 13 students – former student is the attorney coach; Continuing well with IB Stem and IB Career program
Smokerise – Principal Pamela McCloud – Students making strides in academic achievement – use AR program – 2 students have already exceeded their goals and reached the millionaire readers club (reading over 1 million words) – 4th & 5th grade have spelling bee this week; winter MAP in Dec; have 31 concurrent virtual students – going well; staff dedicated and diligent – 2 paras have graduated and are now officially teachers at Smokerise; 1 has graduated and become a spec ed teacher at our school; service project – Friends of Tanzania book drive – collecting books for First Little Free Library in Tanzania – boxes out front and around the school; food drive thru Nov 30 – partnering with Mountain West – they will deliver the food for them; Jr Beta Club induction is next month; STEM certified now – so robotics team preparing for first competition on Dec 11 and working on urban farming project – with aero, hydro and aquaponics; planted a STEM garden toward the front – growing vegetables in the school yard.; preparing to go to conference in Feb for being nationally recognized – will receive $20K to go toward educational resources; State Superintendent Richard Woods and Dekalb Superintendent – Watson Harris and GA Congressman Bill Mitchell & GA State Senator Kim Jackson – to visit school on Dec 3rd – take tour and talk to stakeholders and students
Idlewood – Principal – Robin Elder – Chosen to be part of Amazon Future Engineers program – 1st STEAM day this past Friday – This Thursday is Math Night in conjunction with PTA meeting; safety patrols have begun; applications for student council; Mustang of the Month will be celebrated Thurs; spelling bee in Dec; Parent Family Partnership and Community Outreach – Sun Dec 5 have event for Ethiopian community; garden is going well; excited to be getting new building in next 2-5 years
Midvale – IB & STEM Coordinator Ashley Little (Standing in for Principal Dr. Daugherty) – IB and STEM evaluations in May of this year – preparing for that – had 2 full planning days (covered by subs) for teachers to delve deeper into their units, PBLs and lessons – teachers appreciated that time – sent 5 teachers to IB training – all teachers will have received IB training now – STEM garden going well – close partnership with Dekalb County Parks & Recs and Monarchs Across Georgia – students will get to be part of economic process as well as growing process through project this year; Fernbank Science Center is coming out twice a month to help with green houses; had food & sock drive for EHUMC – a way to give back for all the help they have provided through the snack sax program
Tucker Middle School – Principal – Dr Kathy Cunningham – at TMS we are thriving – TSA just went to Jekyll for Fall leadership conference – 1 of only 2 middle schools in GA who participated/presented at the conference – TSA President recvd perfect score on their event; Innovation Lab will be opening in Dec – funded by $80k received from Samsung Contest last year – Art Club has over 50 members – preparing for Art STAR competition; upcoming basketball game at Sequoyah; prep for milestones and MAP tests happening – working on math and ELA skills; 3 former students are now teaching at TMS; planning for Christmas activities – Angel Tree – PTO has been helpful in getting this together; work orders are doing better – still waiting for lights out in front of the school building to be fixed; food drive about to begin; Dr. Cunningham will be retiring at end of December – 37 years in Dekalb County – total 40 years in education. She feels that it is bittersweet.
II. DeKalb County School District Board of Education Updates
Mrs. Allyson Gevertz, DeKalb Board of Education Rep for District 4
Mr. Diijon DaCosta, Dekalb Board of Education Rep for District 6
Mrs Gevertz – Just had board meeting yesterday – CMP – no presentation occurred yesterday – timeline is coming out to Board by end of this week and will go public soon after; town hall in Dec TBA; rebuild of Idlewood and the possible merging of Midvale and Livsey – these are possible recommendations that impact the Tucker Cluster – still collecting input – input will be reflected in final recommendation in December; ESPLOST 6 does not have detailed project list – passed based on buckets like ESPLOST 5 – know generally where money is going but don’t have detailed project list – this list will be based on CMP – it is focusing on how we are addressing overcrowding and underutilized schools – these things will guide prioritization of funds for new projects – those lists will come in the spring; vaccination rates for employees – right around 69-70% – above state average – these are fully vaccinated individuals – they are eligible for $1000 bonus/supplement – hopefully that number will continue to increase; work orders – out of 3884 open work orders from when vendor left we have closed 2210 of those… have paper work orders and working on technology through Munis to make sure they get through all remaining work orders
Superintendent reported at yesterday’s Board meeting included a major focus on mental health – everything from wraparound support to human trafficking to food insecurity to vaccines and testing. Mental health is a big part of what we are doing post pandemic; can see the report in the Board of Ed agenda online
A couple of issues that Mrs Gevertz thought would be addressed at yesterday’s meeting were not:
- DekalB Schools Foundation – it’s been incorporated but does not have trustees yet
- Supposed to have first read of the volunteer policy – original policy had volunteers paying for background checks and having to go to headquarters to be screened – Board is looking at those issues for a possible in house solution; policy never finalized because of COVID- didn’t have first read yesterday – should happen at December Board meeting
- Will put update on volunteer policy on her website
- Calendar for 2022-2023 school year – survey should be coming out any time now – survey will float ideas that have come from the calendar committee – Board will approve calendar at Dec 13 Board meeting
- Sabrina – said we will make sure to get info out in eblasts between now and our next Feb TCC meeting
III. DeKalb County School District Updates
Mr. Trenton Arnold, DCSD Regional Superintendent, Region II
Thanked folks for ESPLOST 6 vote – will definitely help needs present in our cluster
CMP – as Ms. Gevertz said everything currently proposed are possible recommendations – what’s been put out now is definitely not a finalized list – Board will make their own recommendations as well – encourages all stakeholders to take opportunity to fill out feedback on the Dekalb County CMP page on the district website – there’s a public input page and also a way to email Perkins & Will directly
ESPLOST Advisory Committee meeting tomorrow night – zoom at 6pm – public can watch
Surveillance testing – for parents who wish to participate the survey is still open – target to begin testing is in December – each week staff will go to the same school on the same day and everybody who signs up will get tested
District vacancies – still exist – bus drivers/paras/food nutritional workers – hasn’t changed much – our cluster is in pretty good shape as far as bus drivers go – food nutrition has more vacancies – SROs, campus security, crossing guards also needed; district continuing to reach out – also encouraging principals to reach out – some parents have actually been able to be hired on as custodial staff in one cluster; this problem is still true across the nation as well – more of a labor market issue
Mask & visitor policies – mask policy is unchanged – everybody still required to wear masks inside the buildings- have seen reduction in cases but approaching holidays with travel, etc – will keep position that keeps us the safest
Visitors – at beginning of the year had super strict policy – but high school sports with spectators are counter to that – district is assessing because they do realize how important parents and volunteers are to the running of schools – beginning to be responsive to these needs
Vaccination opportunities for younger students now available – COVID think tank is working with Board of Health to see if they can setup testing/vaccination at elementary schools – on their radar but no firm plan yet
IV. Tucker Outreach Programs and Events
Mr. Matt Holmes, City of Tucker Communications Ddirector – Talking about food and housing insecurity
American Rescue Plan – city of Tucker receiving more than $13 million – first $1.2M is going to NETworks to help with rent, mortgage, utility bills for Tucker residents; will send eblasts and have more info on city’s website; this weekend – Omega support services – Tucker Commuity Outreach event – free clothes, haircuts, stuff for kids; Trunk or Treat at Wade Walker YMCA; Empty Stocking Fund at Tucker Rec – donate money toys for families – look at tuckerga.gov for more details – Tucker Rec also looking for people to help with the event; North Pole at Tucker Rec on Dec 11 – go have smores, sing carols have pic with Santa – free event for families; 2 free events on Main St – Holiday on Main – volunteer groups do every year – will be Dec 4 – light christmas tree, menora, santa may make an appearance; Music on Main – live music countdown to the New Year – on New Years but from 4-8pm – geared towards families; InTucker magazine includes all these events – won an award for best municipal magazine in America – one of the reasons is we do a focus on our Tucker schools every month
Sabrina Chambers – asked Matt to talk specifically so our principals could get this info to share with their schools
Mrs Simone Paceley – Tucker Youth Sports
100% volunteer based organization – people in the background who help new teams start – helped THS start first ever girls flag football team this year – finished first season 4-11 – did make playoffs – 32 girls on team – Coach Lee is head coach and it’s his first year at the high school – came from TMS – hoping to eventually start lacrosse for girls and boys at THS – thanked district for updating practice fields; working with some community stakeholders to start an esports program at THS; website is still being developed – hopefully will be launched by January 1, 2022
V. Closing Remarks / New Business
Sabrina Chambers – each month send out questions to public at large and school liaisons –
1st question regarding work orders -Mr Arnold’s response – principals shifting over to new system and process for reporting work orders – encouraging principals to make sure they maintain the reporting piece –
Reminder that we have the oldest average age of buildings in the district – explains why are numbers are typically higher
Reminding principals to make sure they are reporting – so that the data is out there for things like CMP and ESPLOST
Sabrina Chambers / Trenton Arnold – Draft CMP – Idlewood new school, possible K-8 at Smokerise; consolidation of Midvale/Livsey at Livsey – this consolidation was put at the final phase of the CMP in the 5-10 year project list – a little further out so still uncertain -longer term projects are probably actually going to come out of ESPLOST 7 (2-5 year out of ESPLOST 6) – anything can shift – just because something is voted on or decided on currently doesn’t mean things can’t change in the future
Board does have authority and will make a decision but they can also change those decisions in the future –
This is also the reason why ESPLOST has buckets instead of specific projects – because if voters vote on a specific list then you are much more locked in
Idlewood part of Amazon Future Engineers only school in our cluster – 3 schools in Lakeside cluster and 1 in Druid Hills cluster – well represented across the region
Sabrina Chambers – just reiterating that we are 100% ready to be back in the schools as volunteers and visitors –
Trenton Arnold – weird dynamic right now with sports – so definitely being discussed at highest levels of district – understand need – just want to make sure they get it right
Sabrina Chambers – students at THS have been parking on Main Street – causing some parking issues – parent asking if some policies could be put in place
Trenton Arnold – see this problem at all 3 Region 2 high schools – it’s outside of the districts jurisdiction and control – can tell students that they may have repercussions from business owners – towing cars – principals can communicate this but SROs etc don’t have jurisdictional authority to do anything to enforce parking off campus
Eric Parker – strongly encourage students to not park any where but on campus – but have very limited control over how and where they park – don’t even have ability to verify cars – do have to have a permit to park on campus – only have 80 spots on campus – school does communicate to students and parents
Sabrina Chambers – referred to announcement of Dr Cunningham’s retirement – asked for update on principal search process –
Trenton Arnold – going to be hard seeing Dr. Cunningham leave – she’s a colleague and a peer – someone he goes to for guidance and suggestions – but knows she’s excited to be spending time with her family
Position has been posted – applicants are applying – anticipate probably looking at after winter break for fulling that position – probably will bring in a substitute principal – perhaps Mr Williams after Dr Daugherty comes back – will be a challenge to fill a position of someone so well known and loved – will make sure it’s a candidate who can get close to her level of experience and skill set
Sabrina Chambers – Question from Mrs Paceley regarding lights on the sports fields at THS
Arnold – no timeline on this right now
Parker – has not received any details yet either
Arnold – district is working – still some facilities that don’t’ have artificial turf yet, lights will come after that
Chambers- boys soccer team at high school looking for yard jobs to raise money for dues
Sabrina Chambers – (speaking to the principals, superintendent, board members, teachers in meeting, etc) Thank you all for your time and input – every time I tell someone that we have the Tucker Cluster Council they are impressed – it’s very rare that we have a place where principals, superintendents and the BOE come together in the same place – it’s unique and special
Thank you all for the jobs you do, for being in the classrooms, for taking care of our schools.
See you in February – Happy Holidays!