MEMORANDUM

As you know Dr. Garcia is out of the office this week. Included below are some items that the
cabinet wanted to share with you in his absence.

DR. SANDY JOHNSON, CHIEF INSTRUCTIONAL OFFICER

Comprehensive English Language Learning Assessment (CELLA)

The Comprehensive English Language Learning Assessment (CELLA) was recently adopted by the Tennessee
Department of Education as the reading/language arts assessment for English Language Learners (ELL).
The CELLA must be administered to all K-12 ELL students during the TCAP testing window, April 18-29.
Students in grades 2-8 are also required to take the Math portion of the TCAP Achievement Test,
while decisions regarding Science and Social Studies are made on a case-by-case basis. Scores from
the CELLA will determine reading proficiency for purposes of No Child Left Behind. Since CELLA results
will not be back in time to make exiting decisions, ELL students will continue to be assessed with the IDEA Proficiency Test.

CELLA was developed by a consortium of five states, in cooperation with Educational Testing Service (ETS).
Tennessee is the only state, however, that chose to administer the CELLA this year, and school districts
were not notified of this decision until March. With over 200 MNPS teachers and 4500 ELL students involved,
implementation on such short notice has created significant challenges. In spite of these challenges, the
District is doing everything possible to comply with implementation of this new assessment.

LANCE LOTT, CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER

We are in the advanced stages of planning for a new Customer Service Center that will open at the beginning
of the 2005-2006 school year. This will be staffed with 14 positions that are being consolidated from positions
that used to be in individual departments. The Customer Service Center will include the consistent handling of
all walk-in visitors, customer phone calls, and e-mails.

The plans call for the Customer Service Center to be located at the Boardroom entrance. An attractive
customer lobby is being designed for this entrance where we will target to handle in a one-stop fashion
most of the inquiries we receive. Additionally, a call center is being designed that will be located where
the Construction department used to be and it will house the employees responsible for phone and email inquiries.

There are significant tasks that must be accomplished prior to school opening. These include the build-out
of the work areas; the implementation of technology needed to support a call center; final staffing decisions;
the development of all the call-handling protocols; and the development and delivery of a comprehensive
training program for the Customer Service Center employees.

The Customer Service Center is planning for many capabilities to ensure we can meet service levels that our
customers deserve. These will include extended hours beginning when the first buses roll in the mornings and
ending in the evening so working parents can get their calls answered. We plan to have bi-lingual support
in-house as much as possible. Additionally, we will co-locate four transportation dispatch employees in the
call center to try to instantly answer parent concerns that are phoned in about bus transportation.


PEG/jw