November 16, 2021 at 5:30 PM - REGULAR SCHEDULED MEETING

Discussion:  Ms. Gouge and Dr. Minton acknowledged Gabriel's accomplishments both prior and current in achieving this honor.

Discussion:  Mr. Newman acknowledged both girls and boys Cross Country Teams in their accomplishments this season.

Mr. McClay acknowledged the Girls' soccer team in their accomplishments this season.

Mr. Hardin and Mr. Ensor acknowledged both girls' and boys' golf teams at EHS.  

Discussion:  Dr. Minton acknowledged Carson Peters in his recent appearance on The Voice.  Carson also thanked everyone for their support.

Discussion:  What a group of kids to celebrate! The extracurricular part is huge at the high school and doesn't touch what's going on in the classrooms.  ESSER 3.0 application is approved.  TN All Corps Application, ARP Homeless 2.0 Application and Consolidated Application, were also approved.  Continuing to work on 5-year strategic plan.  More info after Christmas.  Looking forward to TSBA Leadership and Convention at the end of this week.  Glad to have Greg Bowers here tonight to discuss the EHS Teachers Memorial Scholarship.  Elizabethton Alumni Association is moving at lightning speed.  Thanks to Dr. Minton, Mr. Pless, Nicole Moore, Rusty Melton, and Dustin Hensley for getting us to this point.  Angelee Murray is President, Jason Holly is Vice-President, Sara Presnell is Treasurer, Rachel Wagner is Secretary, also two other Board Members, Andrew McKeehan and Tim Broyles. Excited about the opportunity to bring graduates back together and students can feed off this. Mr. Thompson is going to share TCAP Data.    

Discussion:  Mr. Thompson discussed testing data.  
Comparing data from 2019, 2020 and 2021.  We took a loss because of Covid.  Even with the drop we outperformed the State. Data shows how hard our teachers worked through the pandemic.  

TCAP Participation Rate:  96%

Value Added: East Side scored 5's across the Board.  We did very well within the State Rankings.  

Chronic Absenteeism:  Student misses 17-18 days (excused and unexcused) considered chronically absent.  Considering how hard 2021 was, chronic absenteeism was only at 15.4% at the end of 2021 which was still below the State average.  Additionally, our three elementary schools averaged only 6%. 


 

Discussion:  Will have good things to share after the Convention.

Discussion:  The City is in the process of purchasing the Summers Taylor Construction building.  Keep tuned in we're very close on this project.  Second round of voting next month.  Loosening up some things.  Did bring up forecasts regarding revised numbers and will forward those to Richard when he gets them.  An excess of one million dollars over forecasted budget.  If students need hours the park and rec could use them with the ice skating rink.  

Discussion:  Maggie has met with Dr. Minton and Ms. Ellis and is working on Coffee with a Counselor to have another opportunity for the students.

Discussion:  Policy that outlines perimeters for virtual program and how we can utilize the program in ECS.

Discussion:  Auditing Contracts for these funds.  We're very appreciative for this firm, and they're very hands-on.  Their guidance is essential.  

Discussion:  Discussions began with school system and park and rec building a shared facility.  Because of availability of the Summers Taylor property this property will be just for ECS.  Bulk of work was done and wouldn't make sense to change at this point.  Still working with the City on a few things.  Allows us now to finalize the drawings and put it out for bid. The City's portion would be $24,800.00.  

Discussion:  Three companies bid on our copier needs.  Ricoh, Kingsport Imaging Systems and Nova Tech (our current supplier) all bid on the contract.  Ricoh was the low bidder, with $30,000.00 in rebates also around $20,000.00-$25,000.00 per year in savings. We are leasing the devices. We will bring the final copy back to the Board for final approval.  

Discussion:  Participation level in Jr. High Wrestling is up to around 20 students.  

Discussion:  Mr. Greg Bowers addressed the Board with Margaret Houghland, the Class of 1957.  The EHS Teachers Memorial Scholarship.  Ms. Houghland is donating a sizable amount of seed money for a scholarship to be known as the EHS Teachers Memorial Scholarship.  This scholarship will be to honor the memory of teachers past and those who remain.  Funds will be used for a student or students who intend to pursue a post secondary education.  Ms. Houghland expects there will be numerous other contributions from other EHS Alumni and their family members and friends, and members of our community who support the causes promoted by the Scholarship. EHS teachers will be selected each year to be remembered.  Those teachers to be recognized this year are Anna Kinch and June Harrell.  

Margaret Houghland spoke to the Board and stated she hoped the Scholarship Fund would amass $100,000.00 in the next three years.  
 

Discussion:  We encourage individuals to wear a mask if they choose to do so.  No enforcement in that. 

Mr. O'Quinn made a motion that we remove the mask procedures and suspend quarantine guidelines pending additional guidance from the Tennessee Department of Health.