The Kingsport City Schools Board of Education held its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, August 10, 2021. Several key items were discussed, including:
- A special presentation to KCS Supervisor of Nursing Vicki Johnston, the 2021-2022 First Tennessee District Supervisor of the Year and a 2021-22 Tennessee Supervisor of the Year finalist;
- A special presentation to KCS Superintendent Dr. Jeff Moorhouse, the First Tennessee District Superintendent of the Year and Tennessee Superintendent of the Year finalist;
- Approval of the 2021-22 projected school board meeting agenda;
- Approval of Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) courses for 2021-22;
- Approval of revised Board policies; and
- A Superintendent's Report by Dr. Moorhouse.
CALL TO ORDER
The Pledge of Allegiance was led this evening by Kennedy and Klaire Burton. Kennedy is a 4th grader and Klaire is a Kindergartener at Washington Elementary School. They are the daughters of Reid and Kristin Burton.
special presentations
Two special presentations were made this evening:
- Tennessee Representative Bud Hulsey recognized Vicki Johnston, KCS Supervisor of Nursing, for being named the 2021-2022 First Tennessee District Supervisor of the Year and Tennessee Supervisor of the Year finalist.
- Dr. Dale Lynch, Executive Director of the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents (TOSS), recognized Superintendent Dr. Jeff Moorhouse for being named the First Tennessee District Superintendent of the Year and Tennessee Superintendent of the Year finalist.
Jim Welch, Board President, proposed a potential Annual School Board Agenda for consideration.
- The proposed agenda reflects minor revisions as suggested by the Board at their July work session.
- The agenda outlines general structures related to board meetings and the calendar.
- After a brief review, the Board voted 5-0 to approve the agenda.
Dr. Brian Cinnamon, Chief Academic Officer - Secondary, and Dr. Rhonda Stringham, Assistant Superintendent - Instruction, reviewed the recommended list of Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) courses for the 2021-22 school year.
- 37 honors courses and 26 AP courses were proposed.
- After discussion, Mrs. Byers moved to strike the Wind Symphony honors course from the list of proposed approved courses. The motion failed for lack of a second.
- Following discussion, the courses were approved by a vote of 3-2.
Dr. Andy True, Assistant Superintendent - Administration, provided a review of six revised policies for consideration:
- 1.400 – School Board Meetings
- Page 1, line 13 of current KCS policy states that regular meetings of the Board will take place on the second Tuesday of each month, unless the schedule is amended and publicized. A suggested revision removing the specific meeting day with a statement regarding meeting monthly will provide greater flexibility and less need for future policy revision when setting the annual Board meeting calendar.
- 1.901 - Charter School Applications
- Legislation that changes the charter school process has gone into effect. Amended charter applications shall be submitted to the TN Charter School Commission. Previously, these appeals had to be submitted to the State Board of Education. The TSBA model policy to align with this change.
- 4.606 - Graduation Activities
- SBOE Policy 2.103 (page 7) states that the Board shall develop a policy on how students meeting certain requirements will be noted and recognized. It goes on to list nine different ways that a student can be recognized at graduation. However, the current KCS policy is missing this list of recognitions. To align with SBOE Policy 2.103, TSBA recommends including this list in board policy 4.606.
- 4.700 - Assessment Programs
- Districts must now provide students with information on available career and technical education opportunities after aptitude assessment are administered. TSBA has updated model policy to reflect this requirement.
- 5.302 - Sick Leave
- Page 2, line 6 of current KCS policy states that sick leave for maternity purposes may be taken during the period of physical disability only. However, this is no longer the case due to a change in state law. Teachers can use sick leave for maternity leave purposes if pregnancy is verified by a physician and are no longer limited to taking this leave only during the period of physical disability. To be in compliance with state law as well as reduce redundancy throughout KCS policy, TSBA recommends removing this paragraph from this KCS board policy 5.302. Information regarding maternity leave can be found in board policy 5.305.
- 6.402 - Physical Examinations and Immunizations
- State law allows for religious and medical exceptions from immunization requirements. State law now includes an additional vaccine exemption. If, in the future, any COVID-19 or variant vaccine is required for students, an exemption will be granted for individuals whose religion tenets and practices conflict with vaccination. TSBA has updated model policy to include this additional exemption.
- At the July Board work session, a suggestion was made to revise the proposed wording for clarity. Dr. True discussed potential changes with the Tennessee School Boards Association. Tonight's proposed policy reflects such changes.
- After review and discussion, the Board voted 5-0 to approve all six proposed Policy revisions.
During tonight's Superintendent's Report, Dr. Moorhouse reviewed a variety of updates regarding the first days of the 2021-22 school year, including:
- Mr. Inky Johnson helped open the year by speaking at the opening faculty convocation.
- The KCS Hall of Fame inducted three new members at this year's convocation.
- Compared to the 2019-20 school year, the 2021-22 7th-day KCS enrollment total is +16 students.
- ESSER III budget community feedback continues to be received through this Friday.
- Robinson and Adams cafeterias have received a perfect score of 100 on recent health reports.
- The health and wellness environment across the district continues to be monitored. To provide additional transparency, beginning tomorrow, KCS will shift from reporting positive COVID-19 cases on a weekly basis to reporting them daily. The dashboard will be posted each weekday afternoon at www.k12k.com.
- Save the Date: KCS will be holding vaccination events in August for students and staff.
- Students: August 21, 2021
- Staff: August 28, 2021
- Specific times and details will be communicated in the coming days.
The next meeting of the Board of Education will be a work session on Tuesday, August 24, 2021 at 6 p.m. The work session will take place in the Tennessee Room of the Administrative Support Center (400 Clinchfield Street).
For more information on KCS, visit
www.k12k.com, listen live on WCSK 90.3 FM, The Voice of KCS, read our blog, We Are KCS, download our mobile app for Apple/Android devices or call (423) 378.2100. We’re social too; follow us on Facebook (
Kingsport City Schools), Instagram (
@kcs_district), Twitter (
@KCS_District), LinkedIn (
Kingsport City Schools), and check out our YouTube Channel (
KPTSchools).
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