The Kingsport City Schools Board of Education held a work session on Tuesday, August 24, 2021. Several key items were discussed, including:
- Reports from Lincoln Elementary and Kennedy Elementary Schools;
- A review of the current KCS Health and Safety Protocols;
- A review of the KCS COVID-19 Case Dashboard;
- An overview of strategic planning efforts taking place;
- A review of Board Policy issues to be considered; and
- A preliminary overview of TCAP data from 2021.
Detailed Work Session Notes
Suzanne Zahner, principal at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, presented a report on items taking place at Lincoln.
- The report reviewed a wide variety of items, such as school data, accomplishments, and areas of focus.
- To view the Lincoln school presentation, please click below.
Dr. Janice Irvin, principal at John F. Kennedy Elementary School, presented a report on items taking place at Kennedy.
- The report reviewed a wide variety of items, such as school data, accomplishments, and areas of focus.
- To view the Kennedy school presentation, please click below.
Dr. Andy True, Assistant Superintendent - Administration, and Jim Nash, Chief Student Services Officer, reviewed the current KCS Health and Safety Protocols with the Board.
- The protocols describe procedures for:
- Personal Protective Equipment and Hand Washing
- Class Size/Spacing Requirements
- Movement Operations
- Screening Students
- Screening Staff
- School Visitors
- Testing Procedures for Students and Staff
- Dining
- Gatherings and Extracurricular Activities
- Athletic Events
- Cleaning
- Busing and Student Transportation
- Click here to review the current protocols, which were distributed to the KCS community on Tuesday, August 17, 2021.
- After a lengthy discussion regarding operations and health protocols, the board expressed consensus that any future district-wide changes to the KCS health and safety protocols would require Board approval, while temporary school-level adjustments could be initiated by Dr. Moorhouse.
Dr. True and Mr. Nash provided an overview and explanation of the KCS COVID-19 Case Dashboard.
- Posted each afternoon, the dashboard shows each day's newly reported positive cases. Positive cases posted on the dashboard include staff, students, and other adults that work within KCS facilities.
- The dashboard contains all cases confirmed by the Sullivan County Regional Health Department. It also includes cases that are "presumed positive," which are cases that are reported to the KCS Supervisor of Nursing but not yet confirmed by the Sullivan County Regional Health Department.
- Click here to view the dashboard.
Dr. Jeff Moorhouse, KCS Superintendent, and Dr. Melissa Matarazzo, Coach/Senior Director with Studer Education, provided an update on the strategic planning process currently taking place in KCS.
- The process began with input from a wide variety of KCS stakeholders in July.
- Analysis of the gathered information continues.
- The goal of the process is to develop a living strategic plan to guide the district for the next three-to-five years.
- To view the full presentation on the KCS strategic planning process, click below.
Dr. True presented four Board policies for potential revision, and one new policy for consideration.
- 4.213 - Family Life Education
- State law now requires that all Boards adopt a policy on family life curriculum. Previously, only districts in counties with higher teen pregnancy rates had to comply with this requirement. Because this is a new requirement for many districts, TSBA has created a model policy.
- 4.603 - Promotion and Retention
- The TSBA recommends that the Board adopt an updated version of policy 4.603, as the Board’s current version of this policy is currently missing provisions required by state law (e.g. parental notification for students in grades K-3 who are not meeting the expectations of grade-level standards in reading as well as the specific circumstances under which students may be considered for retention after February 1st).
- 6.200 - Attendance
- Public Chapter 223 changes the tiers of the progressive truancy plan. Under this new law, Tier I applies to all students. TSBA has updated this policy to align with these changes.
- 6.405 - Medicines
- TSBA has updated policy 6.405 to clarify the process for allowing students to self-administer asthma medication during school hours.
- 6.409 - Child Abuse and Neglect
- TSBA has updated model policy to align with new state law requirements on reporting child abuse.
Dr. Rhonda Stringham, Assistant Superintendent - Instruction, provided an overview of the 2021 TCAP preliminary results.
- The review covered assessment results from TCAP, Advanced Placement (AP), and statewide dual credit assessments.
- Dr. Stringham also reviewed assessment rankings and reviews.
- Click below to view the full assessment review.
The next scheduled meeting of the Board of Education will be on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at 6 p.m. The meeting 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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