Roane County Schools - Unofficial View

Word began circulating around Kingston last week that Cherokee Middle School had lost its accreditation. Some parents were upset and I received a number of notifications about what was going to be done to correct this. As with many rumors, many which seem to be especially targeted towards Kingston, there was nothing to this. Our schools are accredited by the State and by SACS. Cherokee is

Standing room only with people in the lobby and parking lot. The reason was the recognition of students from our middle and high schools for academic competition at various events around East Tennessee. We have a lot of very bright students in Roane County and we should be proud of them. In the Hearing of Delegations section Joe Eskridge, President of Roane County NAACP, gave a passioned

Several members of Roane Counties staff were featured speakers recently at the School Wide Positive Behavior (SWPBS) state meeting. Jody McLoud and Tony Clower had a separate session that was very well received in addition to the one done by all six of the Roane County participants. Roane County is getting recognition across the state for this program. Roane County hosted training for UT in

Thursday May 8, 2008 - Retiree's reception at the Transportation Conference Room at 4:00 pm Thursday May 8, 2008 - Negotiation Team at 6:00 pm Thursday May 15, 2008 - Joint Workshop with County Commissioners at 6:30 at the Transportation Conference Room to hear Mr. Robert Green, Department of Education, who will explain the BEP formula and how it can be used. Regular Board meeting to follow.

School Board Meeting April 18th, 2008 Last night there was standing room only at the Board meeting. This was due to the presentation of teacher of the year awards for teachers at each school. Each received a check for $50 to be used for school supplies along with a certificate. We do have some outstanding teachers in the Roane County Schools. In the Hearing of Delegations, Kim Harris

Here is a letter from the Director of Schools to school support Organizations. In the 2007 General Assembly, a number of laws were passed that affect education. One of those laws is Public Chapter 326, Acts of 2007 which enacts the "School Support Organization Financial Accountability Act". (Another Link and a PowerPoint Presentation) This law requires local education agencies to adopt a policy

Here is excerpts of letter send to the media, County Commissioners and School Board Members from Director of Schools, Toni McGriff and County Executive Mike Farmer. In response to the discussion and recommendations by the Budget Committee, as well as the full Commission and the Board of Education, we are planning a quick tour of several school sites that are being considered for capital projects

Have you ever planted new grass in your yard and covered it with straw? You watch day after day for the grass to grow and see no change. Then one day you look out and suddenly grass is growing everywhere. Our question is, can we use this same analogy for growth in our schools? Will we wake up one morning and find that we have overcrowding? The School Board has to seriously evaluate the

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

The school Board Retreat, February 22-23 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee The agenda was as follows: Friday 1:00-5:00 Listen to presentations by three architectural firms. Cope Associates, Upland Design Group and Kattz, Binkley, Jones and Morris. Each group gave a 45 minute presentation on their firms, the schools they have built in Tennessee and their method of operation, and their strengths as

Summary of school board meeting, Thursday, February 21, 2008. The Board room was almost full. In attendance was county executive Mike Farmer. Zach Williamson, Band director of Roane County high school had some band members’ play in the lobby prior to the meeting. In the past, Zach has done this and it is an effort that is appreciated by everyone. Last year, he set up some band members

The Roane County News wrote an editorial and a headline news story questioning the school Board’s retreat this weekend to Pigeon Forge. The paper’s major question was as to whether or not the Board violated the state’s sunshine law and why the retreat was held at a remote location. The retreat hardly was an attempt to do something in secret. In our January meeting this was discussed by the

Policy Committee meeting on Monday February 4 at 5:30 Negotiation Team meeting on Thursday, February 7 at 6:00 Educational Council meeting on Wednesday, February 13 at 4:00 School Board meeting, Thursday, February 21, at 7:00 All meetings in the Boardroom at the Central Office

School consolidation. Just the mention of the words starts discussion and the lining up of pro and con supporters. Each side armed with studies, reports, experiences and opinions. The reality is that both sides can make valid points to support their arguments for keeping smaller community schools or the benefits that a large consolidated school can provide. The time is nearing that Roane

On Wednesday, January 23rd there was a school technology meeting. The primary purpose of the meeting was to meet the new Director of Technology for Roane County schools - Jerry Yarbrough. Jerry was previously head of technology in Morgan County. There are some exciting things going on in technology in the school system. I will post the meeting minutes here with all details of everything that

Last night’s school Board meeting (Jan 17th) was relatively short. There were two presentations made. Rob Dill, principal of Roane County High School and Celia Simon, a teacher at the school gave a presentation on the status of their 9th grade academy and Stephanie Walker led a presentation on a new Data Driven method for tracking students in Special Education. The Board was presented an

We have a school board meeting this Thursday night, January 15th. There is very little on the agenda. There will be reports on the status of the Freshman Academy at Roane County High and a Special Education Up-date. There will be a Quarterly Summary Financial Report December 2007 given by Eric Harbin. The only business item is a Resolution to support the Princess Theatre

Few books I have ever read had such an impact on me as The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman. In the book, Friedman talks of globalization with an emphasis on this 100 years. To a lesser extent there are a number of videos on the Internet that expand on some of the concepts that Friedman discusses. At the November, 2007 school board meeting, the video Did You Know was shown. That

(This is a column published in Roane County News) Imagine if your job was to manage the biggest mass transportation system in the county, the biggest food service business in the county, keep maintenance up on eighteen large buildings totaling 1.2 million square feet that are on average 41 years old, manage over 1,000 networked computers, manage the biggest composite library in the county,

At the November, 2007 School Board meeting, the Board voted 7-3 to extend the contract of Director, Dr. Toni McGriff for two more years. This means that she will be the Director of schools here for 3½ more years. I was one of the seven who voted to extend her contract. I feel there is a lot of misinformation in the community about the job the Director is doing, so I wanted to provide the