March 15, 2024 at 6:00 PM - Bedford County Board of Education Spring Retreat
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I. PROCEDURAL ITEMS
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I.A. Opening Remarks
Discussion:
The Friday evening work session began at 7:00. Mr. Cook thanked everyone for coming and he talked about the role of a school board member.
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II. PUBLIC COMMENT
Discussion:
There was no public comment. |
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III. DISCUSSION
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III.A. Capital Projects
Discussion:
The session started with discussion on Capital Projects.
The question was asked how we can prepare our schools to keep from bringing portables back in a few years. One of the suggestions was to tear down the older schools and build a new school on the same property. It was brought up about buying land for a new school complex to be built in a few years. Dr. Garrett talked about the $2.8 million dollars that we are getting for growth money. And we are also getting $600,000 from outcomes money. There was much discussion on how to use this money and the money saved after building Cartwright Elementary. Dr. Garrett asked them to consider a possible newcomer or transition school. We have kids coming in that cannot speak English and have no proof of formal education. It was brought up that other counties in Tennessee are not having issues with ELL like Bedford County since we have the largest population of non- English speaking students in the state. The use of the land adjacent to Cartwright was talked about and possibly building a bus garage on this land. There will be more discussion on the location of a new bus garage. The discussion led to capital priorities being school safety, quality of learning, and quality of life while at school. David Brown gave an update on the Cascade concession stand. |
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III.B. Legislative Update
Discussion:
Ms. Boyette gave the Legislative Update. She spoke about school vouchers, the 3rd grade retention law, and legislation coming up on therapy dogs. There was much discussion on how much money the school system could lose if the Legislature passes a school voucher law.
It was also discussed about the needs for our students that have behavioral issues. |
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III.C. Budget
Discussion:
Next items discussed was the budget and salaries. They talked about the maintenance department requests and Tim Harwell spoke on the needs for teachers, counselors, and tutors for our schools. They would like to see a Dean of Students at each high school and would like to hire a Financial Manager to train and oversee the bookkeepers, school clubs, etc.
The two biggest financial needs we have are teachers for Cartwright Elementary and for ELL. |
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III.D. Salaries (goal of hitting $50,000 by 2026)
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III.E. Revisit Building Plan
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III.F. Home School Students and Extracurriculars
Discussion:
The Home School policy and the Facilities Use policy were also discussed.
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III.G. Therapy Dogs
Discussion:
Shanna Boyette gave a brief presentation on therapy dogs in our schools. She showed a short news clip on therapy dogs in the Franklin Special School District. Dr. Garrett is to appoint a committee to visit Franklin Special School District and see how they use the dogs in their system.
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IV. ADJOURNMENT
Discussion:
The Friday session adjourned at 9:35.
The Saturday session opened at 8:30 and adjourned at 12:30. |