The Kingsport City Schools Board of Education held its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. Several key items were discussed, including:
- Recognition of John Adams Elementary School and Thomas Jefferson Elementary School for being named Reward Schools by the Tennessee Department of Education;
- Approval of two tenure recommendations;
- Approval of 2023-24 Budget Amendment #7;
- Approval of the purchase of student Chromebook devices;
- Approval of the purchase of a school bus;
- Approval of a bid for a roofing project at the Tribe Athletic Complex;
- Approval of an amendment to the renovation contract for the Buck Van Huss Dome; and
- The Financial Update for the 2nd Quarter of FY 2023-24.
Meeting Live Stream
- Click here to view the recorded livestream from tonight's Board meeting.
CALL TO ORDER
The Pledge of Allegiance was led this evening by Aminata and Ollie Sonpon, students at Jackson Elementary School. Ami is in 5th grade and Ollie is in 2nd grade. They are the children of Ernest Sonpon and Callie Bellamy.
Recognitions
Board member Tim Dean recognized John Adams Elementary School and Thomas Jefferson Elementary School for being named as Reward Schools by the Tennessee Department of Education.
- The designation is based on results from the 2022-2023 TCAP assessments.
- Reward status is the top designation a school can earn in Tennessee. Adams and Jefferson were identified as improving overall student academic achievement and student growth for all students and student sub-groups.
business items
Jennifer Guthrie, Chief Human Resource Officer, presented two KCS teachers for tenure.
- These teachers were not listed in the previous list of tenured teachers, approved at the February Board meeting.
- Those presented for tenure this evening included:
- Carletta Fields (Jefferson Elementary School)
- Sarah Lovell (Dobyns-Bennett High School)
- After review, the Board approved the tenure recommendations by a vote of 5-0.
David Frye, Chief Finance Officer, presented 2023-24 KCS Budget Amendment #7 for review and approval.
- The Budget amendment reflects additional funding via donations and a Fund Balance appropriate, as well as project expenses related to the John Adams Elementary playground, the D-B Dome renovation, and a roofing project at the Tribe Athletic Complex.
- Following review, the Board approved the Budget amendment by a vote of 5-0.
Mr. Frye presented a proposal to purchase student Chromebook devices.
- The proposal was to purchase 2,000 devices and 1,000 Chrome licenses for a total cost of $462,300.
- The purchase would be made using the Wilson County Schools Cooperative Purchasing Agreement with Dell Marketing, L.P. using ESSER 3.0 funds.
- Following review and discussion, the Board voted 5-0 to purchase the student devices and licenses.
Mr. Frye presented a recommendation to purchase one school bus.
- The recommendation was to purchase one 43-passenger Blue Bird special education school bus.
- The purchase would utilize the State of Tennessee contract with Sourcewell, using funding from the School General Purpose Fund.
- The cost of the 43-passenger bus is $182,027.
- After review, the Board approved the purchase by a vote of 5-0.
Mr. Frye presented a recommendation to approve a bid to re-roof portions of the Tribe Athletic Complex.
- Due to the roof having long reached it's end of life (the roof is approx. 44 years old) and needing consistent repairs, to protect the improvements and investments made to the facility, the decision was made to initiate the roof project over the TAC gymnasium area (base bid), the vocational area being used by the Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT; alternate #1), and connecting hallway (alternate #2).
- The City of Kingsport has agreed to fund the portion of the project covering the area being used by TCAT.
- Six bids were received for the project, with the low bid submitted by Barnard Roofing Company, Inc.
- Base bid: $470,838
- Alternate #1: $283,473
- Alternate #2: $243,353
- The project, to be completed within 120 days, costs $997,664 (base bid + alternates). Including architect fees and a six percent contingency, the total project cost will be $1,116.274
- Following review, the Board approved the roofing project by a vote of 5-0.
Mr. Frye presented a recommendation to approve Amendment #2 to the contract with Preston Construction for renovations to the Buck Van Huss Dome at Dobyns-Bennett.
- The Amendment includes approval of project Alternate bid item #3, additional LED lighting attached to the new steel ceiling support structure. The Amendment would be funded through the D-B Dome Renovation Project, through a donation of funds from a private donor.
- The cost of Amendment #2 is $272,000 plus an added contingency of $10,880.
- The Board voted 5-0 to approve Amendment #2.
Mr. Frye presented the 2nd Quarter Financial Report for the 2023-24 Budget year.
- The report included a review of revenues (state and county, as well as charges for various KCS services) and expenditures through the first two quarters of the year.
- Click below to view the full 2nd Quarter Financial Report.
The next session of the Board of Education will be a meeting on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 at 6 p.m. The work session will take place in the Tennessee Room of the Administrative Support Center (400 Clinchfield Street).
KCS has been ranked the "#1 Best Place to Teach in Tennessee" by the 2023 NICHE Best Schools Ranking and the City of Kingsport has been voted as the "Nicest Places in America" in the October 2022 Reader's Digest.
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