Lewis County Herald - Serving Hohenwald, Lewis County Tennessee Since 1898

The Lewis County Board of Education met in the regular session on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, at 6:08 p.m. at the Lewis County Board of Education board meeting room located at 206 South Court Street, Hohenwald, Tn. With the exception of Phyllis Townsend, all board members present were Chair Lindsey Himes, Glenda Atkinson, Derek Cotham, Cassie Couch, Jackie Holt, Cody Mitchell, and Sallie Pollock. Board member Paula Dyer joined the meeting via Facetime. Prior to the regular scheduled meeting, Randy Mauldin, representative of Trane, gave a presentation to the board members regarding upgrading the learning environment through guaranteed utility savings. Mr. Mauldin explained to board members that the next step would be to grant Dr. McAbee authority to approve a no obligation Trane Letter to proceed for the preliminary audit of the school facilities. He stated that there is no cost to perform the preliminary audit. Chair Himes suggested that this be put on the agenda for the January 2023 board meeting.

The invocation was given by Mr. Mitchell The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mr. Cotham.

Members of the high school band played several Christmas songs for the board members and those in attendance. After their musical presentation, board member Glenda Atkinson presented a certificate of achievement to band director Adam McInnes for the band's superior accomplishments for this year.

Members of the high school cross country team were presented a certificate of participation and recognized for all their dedication and hard work for this year. Certificates were presented by Tom Jalomo and Stacy Smith and were given to Desirae Warman, Abigail Trenary, David Tohn, Shelby Kwider and Kaleb Forrester.

Consent Agenda

Upon motion by Mrs. Atkinson and seconded by Mr. Cotham, the consent agenda was unanimously approved.

• Previous minutes from the November 8, 2022, board meeting.

• Adopted agenda

Regular Agenda

Directors Report

• Approved non-FMLA leave for Paraprofessional Nancy Bryant effective October 24, 2022, through November 18, 2022.

• Employed Christine Martire, full-time custodian, effective November 14, 2022.

• Transferred Kaitlyn Hinson, substitute teacher, to LCES Paraprofessional effective December 2, 2022.

• Transferred Aaron Jones, Substitute teacher, to Interim LCHS Science teacher effective December 5, 2022.

• Director McAbee stated that he had asked Trina Weaks to give an update on the Innovated High School Grant. He commended Ms. Weaks on the tremendous amount of time that has given to this grant. Ms. Weaks informed the board members that the school was rewarded a grant in the amount of 1.5 million dollars. She further stated that she has been meeting with community leaders, industry leaders and TCAT to discuss the needs for this grant and what they could bring back information to the teachers as well. She stated that one of the highly discussed items of interest was to bring back home economics and she said that this would be implemented into the school system. Some of the other areas that will be implemented will be: nursing services which will allow students to become a certified CNA, welding; teaching as a profession; CTE vehicle for the high school; enclosed trailer so that they can bring equipment to the other schools and showcase what the opportunities are through CTE: career counselors for high school and middle school; Agriculture program for middle school which will include an outdoor learning area; and criminal justice. She stated that this would be over a 4-year span. Ms. Weaks stated that Dr. McAbee may want to expand on the Grow your own program. Dr. McAbee explained that with the element that Ms. Weaks was talking about is the dual enrollment that the high school students may participate in, the students will receive credit for high school courses towards their college degree and then two years toward their college degree so the students could be teaching two years after graduation instead of four years. He stated that another area of Grow Your Own is that he and Mr. Trull have been working on is the signing of agreements with UT Southern for a Special Education program and K-5 program. Therefore, if the paraprofessional wants to go into Special Education or teaching K-5 they would be able to go to school for free while working for our school system and then after two years they would receive their teaching degree.

• Dr. McAbee informed board members that Columbia State had reached out to him about Mechatronics program. He stated that they are offering to bring some of their trainers to Lewis County High School. The trainers mean modules of robots. He stated that beginning next school year students could begin working on a certificate in Mechatronics. If they continue studying in this area, they could receive a AAS degree by the time that they graduate. They have an agreement with UT Chattanooga that if our students leave our high school and go to UT Chattanooga and in two years, they will receive a BAS degree. Director McAbee explained that Columbia State would provide half of the cost for this program, and we would have ESSER funds to pay for the other half. He stated that we would be responsible to store the robots in a safe place.

• Director McAbee stated that we are getting close to having the buzz in system in place at the middle school. He explained that all the schools now have the wiring in place. He informed board members that the audio enhancement quotes that he had emailed to them, there was some confusion about the CAT 6 drops. He stated that Cody had mentioned something about this, and this was included in the bid.

• Dr. McAbee mentioned the new high school sign. He explained that Ms. Weaks was instrumental in getting the new sign.

• Director McAbee informed the board members that there are still leaks in the intermediate school after the work was completed. He stated that Tony Cotham and Ronnie Staggs have done a great job to get the company that completed the roof work to come back and see what needs to be done to stop the roof from leaking.

Unfinished Business

There was no unfinished business to discuss.

New Business

Upon motion by Mr. Mitchell and seconded by Mr. Holt, item a) under new business was approved unanimously.

a) Approve Brody Whitlow as Middle School and High School volunteer baseball coach.

Since item b) under new business would be a lengthy discussion, Chair Himes suggested that this be discussed at a board retreat. She suggested that the retreat be a weekend in January 2023 and that the handbooks would be discussed at this time also.

b) Discuss sick leave for school staff.

Upon motion by Mrs. Atkinson and seconded by Mrs. Pollock, item c) under new business was approved unanimously.

c) Approve travel to University of Northern Alabama located in Florence, Alabama for 55 HOSA students, teacher Kelly Hinson and sponsor Ashley Forrester. The trip will be on January 10, 2023, and time will be from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Announcements

Mrs. Dyer informed board members that she and Ms. Couch attended the delegate assembly and that she has a copy of the resolutions that were presented at the meeting and if any of the board members would like a copy, that she would get Board Secretary Angela Leigh to make copies for them.

Pictured, from left, are Coach Tom Jalomo, Desirae Warman, Abigail Trenary, David Tohn, Shelby Kwider, Kaleb Forrester, and Coach Stacy Smith.

Mr. Mitchell told board members that the had recently talked with Representative Cepicky from Columbia. He explained that he is one of the representatives that sits on the education committee of the 3rd grade retention bill and that they are all open about possibly changing the power back to local school districts to decide about the retention of students.

Dr. McAbee asked that the board members remain in the board meeting room after adjournment to discuss legal matters update about Hewlett Spencer.

Chair Himes announced that the next regular scheduled meeting will be January 10, 2023. She also suggested that there be a workshop at 5:30 p.m. Mrs. Atkinson asked about a definite date for the board retreat. After some discussion, it was decided by all board members to schedule the board retreat for January 28, 2023, beginning at 9:00 a.m.

Adjournment

Upon motion by Mr. Mitchell and seconded by Mrs. Atkinson, the meeting was adjourned at 7:03 p.m.