By Shannon McFarlin WENK/WTPR News Director
Paris, Tenn.—After discussion, the Henry Co. Schools board of education unanimously voted to allow Board President Jill Coker to negotiate the next contract with Director of Schools Dr. Brian Norton. The meeting was held Thursday evening at Lakewood School.
Coker reported that in response to a concern voiced by Board Member Rod Frey at last month’s meeting, it was determined that the proposal for negotiating Norton’s contract as presented by former Board Chair Doug Braden was not proper and that Board Attorney Rob Whitfield examined the issue and presented three options for the board.
Coker said the three options are: form a standing committee, the Board Chair would be appointed to negotiate with Norton or ask Whitfield to negotiate the contract. None of the three options would involve actual approval of the contract, she said: for each option, the board would still have ultimate approval of the proposed contract.
Board Member James McCampbell made a motion that Coker would negotiate and make a recommendation to the board, which Rod Frey seconded. The negotiations and contract recommendation will be presented to the board before its January meeting.
Frey also said he is also waiting to hear back from the Tennessee School Board Association on whether the board legally approved Dr. Norton’s initial contract.
Maintenance Supervisor John Akers reported that the district’s ongoing projects are progressing well. He said the bleachers at the stadium are 100 percent complete and it appears that the maintenance building may be ready by Thanksgiving instead of by Christmas as initially thought.
At the meeting’s outset, it was an evening for learning as Lakewood teachers and students demonstrated their activities and programs for the board.
Students performed several activities for board members, reading poetry, demonstrating sign language, reading exercises and ‘student-led conferencing’.
For the student-led conferencing, Student Ella Seaton and Teachers Lindsay Craig and Denay Kibbler showed how it’s done, with the student as the facilitator, speaking about their accomplishments and goals, and the teacher takes the mediator role.
Elementary Principal Amy Veazey presented the Lakewood Elementary and Middle School’s improvement plans for the board. At the elementary school, focus areas are reading, math, and chronic absenteeism. In reading, the goal is that 25 percent of third grade students will score at on track or mastery levels on the TNReady tests by May 2019. For math, the goal is 47 percent of 3-5th grade students reach that level by May 2019. As for chronic absenteeism, the goal is to reduce the percentage of chronically absent K-5 students to below five percent.
At the Middle School, the goals are in the areas of student wellness, improvement of math skills and differentiating professional teacher learning. In the area of student wellness, the goal is to improve wellness by showing a ten percent positive change from 2018 to 2019. Veazey said the school takes a spring school climate survey each year and will compare those results.
To improve math skills, the goal is to increase the number of students from 15 percent to 18 percent in grades 6-8 in the TNReady data. “We’re not where we want to be in any subject level, but we see work that is especially needed in math,” Veazey said.
Photo: Lakewood Students demonstrate their sign language skills for the board and audience. (Shannon McFarlin photo).
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