The Union County Board of Education approved multiple items to comply with state and federal regulations as well as proceeding as planned for the new middle school construction at the November meeting.

The discovery of a cave under the proposed football field and two voids at the loading dock of the new middle school temporarily paused construction. After engineers did extensive drilling, the cave became a non-issue and a solution for the voids was determined. A cement grout will be used as is standard practice to fill the voids and then they will be capped. The cave is dry and after the procedure no water can enter the voids.

Another item of concern was that large amounts of rock have been discovered in the location of the proposed sports fields. Removal of the rock may increase the original cost for excavation. Also, the baseball and softball fields were not in the original bid, but the board voted to continue the excavation of these fields and secure funding if needed.

Additional requirements by the City of Maynardville to meet certain codes has increased the cost by $165,000, which is paid by the contingency fund. Change orders up to $250,000 will be approved going forward to facilitate the progress of the construction.

Regarding compliance issues, the board approved and upgraded the teacher salary scale to reflect the mandated amounts to comply with the state. Added amounts to salaries will begin in January. The beginning salary will be $46,000 and is on track to provide a beginning salary of $50,000 for teachers in the fall of 2026. The board also approved the TISA Accountability Report that itemizes the high quality resources in personnel, equipment and materials to ensure improvement on the standardized testing as proof that children are achieving benchmarks in English and language arts, which had progressed, but did not reach intended goals on the past test administration. Dr. Ronnie Mincey explained the LEA Compliance Report that describes how each of the Federal Programs Title Funds will be administered, and the Board approved the report.

All budget amendments and transfers were approved. Most dealt with grants, state or federal funds, repurposing carryover funds and transferring funds for the middle school construction. Plans are underway for the central office to be roofed. The softball improvements at UCHS have been mostly completed.

Rebecca Lock, Legislative Board Liaison, noted that several issues including vouchers will be addressed during the Tennessee legislative session in the spring of 2025. All school trips were approved. The Strategic Five-Year Plan was postponed to a later meeting.

The next meeting of the Union County Board of Education will be on Thursday, December 12, with the workshop at 6 p.m. and the meeting to follow.