Conference room was about 2/3 full. Many principals, some teachers and parents were present.
In the hearing of delegates were three persons. One person was interested in trying to get schools to adopt bowling as a TSSAA sport. Bowling was sanctioned about three years ago by TSSAA and has seen significant growth state-wide. Generally, if our schools have interest and can find a coach they will apply to the TSSAA to have a bowling team. The process the school would have to go through to field a bowling team would be the same if they wanted to form a golf, tennis, or other sport sanctioned by TSSAA.
Another person presented the Board survey results from a questionnaire that addressed dual-credit and AP courses. There are lots of twists and turns in this process as far as funding and state requirements. Like so many things, there is a lot more than meets the eye when making these offerings. A meeting has been scheduled to discuss this with the person submitting the request, the Director of Schools and the Secondary School Coordinator.
The third person to address the Board was Cope Associates about the services they offer for school building.
In the Reports section of the meeting it was reported that on March 31st at 6:00 p.m. there is a meeting scheduled for all student support groups in our school system. The intent of the meeting will be to discuss state mandated changes on how these groups have to work with fund raising in the schools.
A special presentation was made to the Board by the director of food services for Roane County. The Board learned that over the course of a year over 1,000,000 lunches are served -- 5,123 a day on average. It was also announced that parents can now pay for their child's cafeteria over the Internet for a small handling fee.
A tentative date was set for a bus tour of selected facilities for County Commissioners and School Board members. That date is Friday, April 4th. Visit to seven schools is on this tentative agenda. Details will be released to the media as they become available. The purpose of the tour is to show first hand some of the facility issues that we face in the county. After the tour, a date will be set for a facilities workshop between the Commission and the School Board.
In old business, 17 policy changes were approved on second reading and one new policy was approved on second reading.
The policies were:
1. Approval of revised Equal Opportunity Employment Policy # 2.02 & 5.01 (2nd Reading)
2. Approval of revised In-Service and Staff Development Opportunities Policy # 2.10 (2nd Reading)
3. Approval of revised Central Office Personnel Files Policy # 2.12 (2nd Reading)
4. Approval of revised Drug-Free Workplace Policy # 2.14 & 5.04 (2nd Reading)
5. Approval of revised Qualifications and Duties of Teachers Policy # 2.16 (2nd Reading)
6. Approval of revised Teacher Evaluations Policy # 2.24 (2nd Reading)
7. Approval of revised Interim Employees Policy # 2.31 (2nd Reading)
8. Approval of revised Retirement of Professional Personnel Policy # 2.37 (2nd Reading)
9. Approval of revised Health and Dental Insurance for Professional Personnel # 2.39 (2nd Reading)
10. Approval of revised Family and Medical Leave Policy # 2.41 & 5.22 (2nd Reading)
11. Approval of revised In-Service and Staff Development Opportunities for Support Personnel Policy # 5.16 (2nd Reading)
12. Approval of revised Time Schedules and Extra Duty for Support Personnel Policy # 5.17 (2nd Reading)
13. Approval of revised Overtime Pay of Support Personnel Policy # 5.18 (2nd Reading)
14. Approval of revised Emergency Closings Policy # 5.29 (2nd Reading)
15. Approval of revised Substitute Teachers Policy # 5.35 (2nd Reading)
16. Approval of revised Health and Dental Insurance for Support Personnel Policy # 5.38 (2nd Reading)
17. Approval of revised Compensation Guides & Contracts for Professional Personnel Policy # 2.13 (2nd Reading)
18. Approval of Recognition of School Support Organizations Policy # 4.33A (New Policy, 2nd Reading)
Also in old business, the school calendar for 2009-2010 was approved (which has a fall break).
In new business there was approval given to surplus technology equipment from the Special Education Department and approval of a Budget Amendment for Title IV Youth Violence and Drug Use Prevention Grant.
After some discussion, approval was given to convert the old Central Elementary school into a school furniture storage facility.
