Members of the Haywood County School Board met in regular session on Thursday, May 9, where Superintendent Joey Hassell praised the Haywood Middle School Tennis team for their performance this season and in District play. He praised other sports team at HMS and HHS. He also welcomed five members of the HHS Human Services class, under the direction of teacher Sarah Haynes. She reported that 39 students had the opportunity to partner with the 21^st Century after school program with Work Based Learning.

Five members of the HHS Human Services class, under the direction of teacher Sarah Haynes, spoke at the board meeting about their experiences working in the elementary schools as mentors and tutors. Mrs. Haynes reported that 39 students had the opportunity to partner with the 21st Century after school program with Work Based Learning. Throughout the duration of the school year, my students worked in the elementary schools within our district to help tutor and mentor our youth. During these experiences, my students were able to gain a deeper understanding about the daily operations of a teacher and school staff members actually work. With our district being the second largest employer in the community and a large student interest due to this opportunity, HHS will be offering a new program of study next year called Teaching as a profession, and hopefully one day, these students will come back to our community and work with us,” said Mrs. Haynes. “These students also cumulatively earned 1,576 hours of community service between September and April while working with this program. The students shared with those attending the board meeting their personal experiences and what they were able to take away (from the experience) as a result.”  Pictured are (from left) Jasmine Wellington, Jakia Williams, Victoria Dancy, TaNiyah Reid, Talaya Sabree and teacher Sarah Haynes.

Board members approved out-of-state travel for the HHS JROTC to attend JROTC summer came with Shelby County Schools at Camp McCain, Mississippi from Junes 16-22.

Superintendent Hassell also discussed the policy manual review. Policies recommended for change will be considered at the June 13 meeting. Among those to be considered will be the dress code and the discipline policies. Before the next meeting, these policies will be reviewed and revised for the board’s consideration.

In other business, board members approved the acceptance of the bid from Raptor for the Visitor Management System at all six locations. The cost for this system is $10,350. CFO Larry Livingston reported that the Catherine Truss Colhoun Trust has a balance of $196,502.96. The Trust’s committee reported that they have selected six scholarship recipients who will receive $2,000 each at the 2019 HHS Senior Awards ceremony Friday night.

The Superintendent and Budget Committee members, Allen Currie and Gem Bell, along with CFO Larry Livingston have been working on a budget and will meet with board members in a called meeting at 4:30 p.m. at HHS on Friday, May 17, to look at the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2019-2020.

The next meeting will be Thursday, June 17, at 6 p.m.