August 9, 2016 at 5:30 PM - Bradley County Board of Education Work Session

Discussion: 

Mr. Coggin told the Board that Cleveland-Bradley County, Tennessee, the State of Tennessee, and across our Country we have a problem with prescription drugs.  Students need to understand that fooling with drugs could mean their life. We have to create something to make students aware of the problem, to help our students understand the problem, and keep it going. Mr. Coggin introduced Brittany Cannon to the Board so she could to tell them about the program that was created for the Bradley Central and Walker Valley football game on August 18^th. Brittany told the Board that Dr. Cash came to her and asked her to think about how the community could take a stance against drugs. Dr. Cash had an initial meeting with Scotty from Wright Brothers and Bill Winters to try to come up with a plan to attack the problem.  She asked Brittany about a team of students. Brittany went to the administrators and asked for student leaders that could impact their peers, take the message to the middle schools and then out to the community.  They called a meeting with 11 students. They asked the students if it was true that you could send a text and have what you want in less than an hour.  The students said yes. Then, they knew for sure they had a problem. They gave them the background, gave them where they wanted to go and asked them to create a message and create a slogan.  They left the room and were blown away with the results when they came back in an hour.  The students designed a program for the football game.  The football teams will come together in the center of the field, the bands will surround them along with the cheerleaders and the community. They want this to be a community taking a stance so Cleveland was also invited.  These student leaders will then take the message out to the middle and elementary schools.  They believe in being drug free and want this message to come from them. Not the adults.  Don't forget Thursday, August 18th.

Discussion: 

Bradley County Schools accepted bids for paving at Bradley Central High School. Three bids were received.  Taking into consideration the budgeted amount of 70,000.00, Mr. Humberd directed Mr. Tom Crye of Associated Architecture to modify the project to bring it into budget. He has done so and Caldwell Paving agrees to the project.  Mr. Humberd recommends accepting the bid from Caldwell Paving.

Discussion: 

Terri Murray explained to the Board that the AdvancED Group will be visiting September 11-14th for a review. AdvancED is the new name for the old SACS Accreditation Program.  Mrs. Murray told the Board that they have been working on the Strategic Plan and a new mission and vision statement for the last two years.  After Dr. Cash came and they began to work with Jodi Lentz they got it nailed down.  She asked everyone to read the new Mission statement with her.   "The mission of the Bradley County School System is to provide an educational opportunity for every student to excel."  The Vision statement is "Growing Students-Building Futures".  She went over the calendar of events and let the Board know that the team will want to interview the Board on Monday from 2:30-3:30 and meet with them again on Wednesday for an exit meeting.  We look forward to their visit.  It lets us show case what we do well and reaffirm that we are on the right track.

 

Angie Gill explained to the Board what they have been working on to prepare for the visit.  To meet AdvancED standards for quality, they have to implement continuous improvement processes.  They looked at ePlan, Strategic Plan, and AdvancED plan and made sure they are all going in the same direction.  Then, they updated the demographics for the District.  They conducted an internal review with self-assessment for the district and schools, with an executive summary, stakeholder feedback (online surveys by teacher, students and parents), student performance diagnostic, improvement plan, and assurances.   They will host an external review once every five years and respond to improvement priorities in the Accreditation Progress Report.  Mrs. Gill talked with the Board about the questions they may be asked.  She suggested that they just have conversation with them about what they know.  Share with them what we do and how we do it.

 

Danny Coggin told the Board that Bradley County wants to go through the accreditation process as a district because it shows that the district is a quality district.  This is the third time we have been through the accreditation process as a district.  It gives us an opportunity to show that we are continually growing and making strides in what we are doing for the students of Bradley County. 

 

 

Mrs. Beaty told the group that she got a lot of positive comments from administrators regarding working with Jodi Lentz.  They were very impressed with the process and the way he made you think.   

 

One of the pieces that came out of reviewing everything was that we started a true teacher mentoring program this year, Dr. Cash told the Board. Before, we assigned mentor teachers but didn't really have a working mentoring program. 

Vice Chair, Vicki Beaty asked the new Board members if they had anything they wanted to ask or to add.  Jerry Frazier said that going through the accreditation process as a district is the way to go. He is glad to see them doing it.  It is a very positive thing for the district.   Nancy Casson added that she has served in McMinn County and other districts on several of these SACS visits.  She has also been a community representative for Bradley County, but this will be the first time as a school board member.  This will be a different aspect of looking at it. 

 

Discussion:  Dr. Cash reported the first day enrollment number to the Board. Elementary had 4327 with 47 CDC students and Secondary had 5687 for a total of 10,063 on the first day of school for 2016-17. She also reported that we ended the last year with 9709 students.

Discussion:  Dr. Cash presented the Board with Out of Zone student numbers that Dianna Calfee asked for in the previous meeting. Also, she gave them the Per Pupil Expenditure which for 2015 was $8,429.00.

Discussion: 

Dr. Cash went over the proposed changes to policies 1.407, 3.202, 3.219, 4.700, 6.304, 6.305 and 6.411.  Mrs. Beaty asked the Board if anyone had an objection with putting the policy changes into the consent agenda for Thursday.  Mr. Rose asked that policy 3.219 be pulled and discussed in the September meeting.  All policies except 3.219 were okayed to be put in the consent agenda.

Discussion: 

The Board Calendar and the Annual Agenda for 2016-17 were presented to the Board by Mrs. Calfee.  She asked that a notation of Teacher Appreciation be put into the District Calendar on the month of May.  Also, add to the Agenda in September, Introduction of the Student Representatives to the Board of Education.  Teacher Appreciation and PTO Recognition will be added to May in the agenda.  Both items will be moved to the consent agenda for Thursday.