Board reviews consent agenda: St. Jude MOU, Reading Horizons dyslexia program, dual-enrollment MOUs, music and security contracts among items listed
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Summary
The board was presented a consent agenda that included memoranda of understanding, grants, software and equipment purchases, naming and donation items. Several items were discussed briefly or clarified by staff; the transcript lists the recommended items and amounts but does not show separate recorded votes for each item in the provided excerpt.
The Shelby County Board of Education reviewed a slate of staff action items on the consent agenda, including memoranda of understanding, grants, purchases and contract renewals.
Highlights presented by staff included:
- Memorandum of understanding with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to support development of STEMM (science, technology, engineering, math and medicine) learning opportunities across 10 elementary, 2 middle and 3 high schools (agenda item 9.1).
- Strategic Partners for Literacy MOU (agenda item 9.2), a project-manager position budgeted at $91,883.04; the Urban Child Institute and the Hyde Family Foundation will each pay 50% and MSCS will pay $45,941.52 of the maximum salary total.
- Reading Horizons contract (agenda item 9.3) listed at $539,895 as a dyslexia-specific intervention aligned with Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) 49-1-1229.
- Dual-enrollment memoranda of understanding with multiple college partners (agenda item 9.4) including Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT), Tennessee Tech, University of Memphis and Southwest Tennessee Community College; terms and durations vary by partner and year as listed in the agenda.
- Memphis Symphony Orchestra contract for $98,800 to provide in-school orchestra programming (9.5), and a Jay Dilla Music Tech grant through Save the Music Foundation for Craigmont High School at $58,300 (9.6).
- Agreement to provide state special-school services (9.7) with the Tennessee School for the Deaf and the Tennessee School for the Blind; administration clarified this MOU does not include district payment from the state to MSCS for those services.
- Multiple procurement and service items, including a mobile surveillance trailer system (ProTech Professional Technologies Inc., $612,337.73, 9.16), a weapons-detection bag-scanner warranty renewal (Linnev Systems USA Inc., $147,952.18, 9.17), preACT assessments for grades 8'10 ($345,835, 9.11), OpenText contract renewal ($88,748, 9.12), and other facility and software items.
- Naming of Fairley High School auditorium in recognition of Pastor Robert J. Matthews (9.14) and acceptance of a $57,669.80 donation for Middle College High School football equipment (9.15).
Questions on consent items: Board members sought clarifications on several items: the district confirmed the state special schools MOU carries no payment to MSCS; staff said preACT assessments are practice tests intended to produce data to guide ACT preparation and that many high schools already include ACT prep courses aligned to district curricula. On the bag-scanner warranty renewal, security staff said average repairs cost roughly $10,000 to $15,000 per scanner and that the state requires annual servicing.
Why it matters: the consent agenda contains instructional supports (dyslexia intervention, dual enrollment, arts programming), assessments and security investments that affect classrooms across the district.
Ending: The transcript lists the recommended approvals and discussion; the provided excerpt does not show recorded motions or roll-call votes for each consent item.