The Union County School Board continued its community-based meetings by conducting its September business at Maynardville Elementary School. The board elected a new chairman, a new vice chairman, and a new interim director.
Elected by acclimation were Marty Gibbs from the First District as the Chairman and Andrew Reed from the Sixth District as the Vice Chairman. Then the board terminated Dr. Jimmy Carter’s interim directorship which would have expired anyway on October 4 and named Dr. Ronnie Mincey as the Interim Director of Schools. The board also agreed to move Mincey’s salary to the general fund but he will remain the Supervisor of Federal Programs and the board’s Secretary Clerk. The board will also begin discussion with Tennessee School Board Association (TSBA) to search for a full-time director.
Mincey stated that he never intended to be the director nor did he wish to gain from Carter’s misfortune. But he noted that he did have an allegiance to see that the system’s work continued. In the interest of continuity, Mincey asked that the board waive a current policy that prohibits the interim director from applying to be the full-time director. The board granted his request.
The board approved a resolution that outlined the negative educational and financial local impact of TCA 49-6-3115, the Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation Student Acceleration Act. According to Dr. Lauren Effler, Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction, this law would require all third graders who score reading below third grade level to be retained or participate in a summer reading program and after school tutoring during the school year.
The law provides no funding for the additional programs and no exceptions for those students who miss the mark on the one-time high stakes test by only a few points. Based on last school year’s test results, the majority of Union County third graders and most of the state’s third graders would be repeating third grade.
To make matters more difficult, the late spring test scores are not available to local systems until after the June Summer Session ends. So Union County would not know who needed remediation until after the remedy to prevent retention expired.
The resolution will be shared with State Representative Dennis Powers and State Senator Frank Niceley as well as TSBA and the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents (TOSS).
Finance Director Missy Brown explained three contracts and 13 pages of budget amendments. Contracts for an instructional resource and the auditing firm were approved. Also, since the Tennessee Virtual Academy (TNVA) recently became a K-9 school, the contract was amended to reflect the change from a K-8 school. All budget amendments received affirmative votes. Most dealt with carryover money, grant funding and routine budget changes for the beginning quarter of the fiscal year.
Spending is on target at approximately 17 percent of available funding. Brown also noted that two months of budget amendments would be considered at the county commission meeting on September 26. She also informed the board that the Union County Finance Committee would be considering raising the bid limit to above $25,000.
Supervisors and central office staff covered numerous board policy changes and current practice. All passed on first reading with the minimal changes except for Promotion and Retention 4.603. Marty Gibbs recommended that the board explore alternate board training to meet the state requirement for board member training. The board set September 20 at UCHS Library at 6 p.m. to begin reviewing the board policies.
In the workshop, Lisa Carter, Principal of Maynardville Elementary, informed the board that MES has become a Level Five school in growth for achievement in language arts, math, and science. She also identified the mission and many resources used to “make it (education) happen for all students.” She introduced and thanked all of the many employees and the PTO who support the MES mission.
UCEA President Carolyn Murr thanked the board on behalf of MES for being allowed to attend the funeral for Paislee Harrington and the audience viewed a video tribute to Paislee.
The board will meet at Paulette Elementary on October 6 due to the regular meeting date occurring during fall break.