The School Board met in regular session on Tuesday, May 10. Superintendent Teresa Russell gave board members an overview of the spring sports at Haywood High, adding that all have had or are still having very successful seasons. The softball team is playing in a District game tonight and the track and field team is still competing.

In other business, board members approved at the request of Haywood Middle School Principal Yvette Blue the use of a school bus to transport Haywood County School students to the Kids Across America campsite in Branson, Missouri, from June 26 through July 2. Mr. Nick Korn will be driving the bus for the trip.

They also approved out-of-state travel for two FCCLA teachers, Vickie Noles and Sarah Haynes, to travel to the FCCLA National Leadership Conference in San Diego, California, from July 2 through July 8 with two HHS students. Jackie Whitten, Haywood County GEAR UP TN site coordinator, received the board’s permission to take eight, maybe 12, students to the GEAR UP TN Youth Summit at Austin Peay University from June 13-16.

Board members also agreed to review the school system’s policy manual for discussion at the June 14 meeting. Policies recommended for change must be turned in two weeks prior to the June meeting. They also heard that the Catherine Truss Colhoun Trust has a balance of $181,551.43. CFO Larry Livingston reported on this fund, and said that the board will be giving out $12,000 in scholarships to students at graduation. Budget amendments were also approved.

Mrs. Russell reminded board members of the upcoming awards program at HHS and graduation ceremonies at HHS and HMS in the upcoming week.

In a final note, Mr. Livingston reported that the Cowart Reese Sargent CPA firm had given notice that they would not be doing audits for schools anymore. They recommended several firms that Haywood County Schools could consider. Mr. Livingston talked to two firms, and with the approval of Mrs. Russell, selected Godwin & Associates in Savannah to perform our Internal School audits at the same price that the system has been paying to the accountants in the past, $8,500 annually. If the cost of services is less than $10,000, the schools do not have to go through the bid process. The internal audits are of the individual schools’ activity funds and cafeteria funds. The State of Tennessee performs the audit for the overall school system.

The next school board meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on June 14.