Superintendent of Schools Teresa Russell presented HHS Basketball Coach Kendall Dancy with copies of Resolution 313 of the Tennessee House of Representatives, which gave special recognition to the basketball team for winning the Division I Class AA State Championship. Each team member will get a copy of the Resolution.

 

Superintendent of School Teresa Russell opened the June HCS School Board meeting with her celebration of schools. She read to board members, guests and HHS Basketball Coach Kendall Dancy Resolution 313 of the Tennessee House of Representatives, which gave special recognition to the Haywood High Men’s Basketball team that won the Division 1 Class AA State Championship. The resolution gave the team’s winning statistics for the year and expressed great pride in its accomplishments. Sponsoring the resolution was Haywood County Representative Craig Fitzhugh and State Senator Delores Gresham.

 

Mrs. Russell also recognized the success of the Summer Express program, a nine-day summer program that offers special learning opportunities for the 137 students who participated. She said in addition to the classroom activities, students enjoyed two field trips. Mrs. Russell also shared with board members a report she received from the Family Resource Centers, one located at Anderson and one at Haywood Elementary. She said that 2, 236 students used the centers, and that families checked out more than 7,000 items. She also reported that the Book Jam program was a great success with 1,728 students receiving free books, and in their programs, Haywood County students read more than 76,000 books.

Attending the meeting were board members Harold Garrett, Allen Currie, Olivia Farrington and Harrison Jones. Board member Greg Vanstory was out of town on business. In other business, board members approved the 2016 fiscal year Local Consolidated Application for students with disabilities under the No Child Left Behind law. They also approved to operate under a continuation budget until passage of the 2015-16 county budget by the Haywood County Commission. Superintendent Russell asked board members to approve the application process for two new Tornado Safe Space grants, one to be built at Haywood High and one to be built at East Side Intermediate School. This was approved.

Board members did not approve the superintendent’s request to reappoint the current members of the Disciplinary Hearing Authority. Board member Olivia Farrington asked the board why they did not appoint members to the authority as it states in Policy 6.317. She said, “Either we need to go by the policy or change it.” Mrs. Russell said that she requested the reappointments because she believed that the current authority members are doing a good job, and this is the way it has been done. After a discussion about the policy and the authority members, the board agreed to table the item on the agenda until Mrs. Russell can discuss the policy with HCS attorneys. Currently serving on the authority are Art Garrett, Kenneth Emerson, Samuel Carney, Dorothy Bond, Opal Hay and as an alternate, Marjorie Vaulx.

Board members discussed the next item on the agenda – bonuses for coaches. Besides coaches, the list included sponsors of Career and Technical groups, the band and several other groups. After much discussion, the item did not pass when Olivia Farrington and Harrison Jones voted yes and Allen Currie and Harold Garrett voted no.

Mrs. Russell had on the agenda her new organizational chart, but asked to delay presenting this item until she has time to make some changes.

Board members approved the request from Mr. Vincent Harvell and Mrs. Russell for approval to schedule a company to repair the gym floor at Haywood Middle School. It seems the wood floor is rising in a big area due to a moisture problem. Insurance has said they are not responsible for this damage, but they are waiting on a report from an engineer on the exact cause of the damage. The company they want to hire, “Sports Flooring,” is a part of the National Joint Power Alliance, of which HCS is a member, so they don’t have to bid out the project since other areas schools have used this company on similar projects. The estimated cost for the project will be $22,556.

After board members approved some budget amendments, but before closing, Mrs. Russell set up a budget meeting with budget committee members Harold Garrett and Allen Currie for next Tuesday, June 16.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 14, at 6 p.m.