In less than a half hour of discussion and less than four minutes for the actual meeting with barely a quorum, the Union County Board of Education completed its work at the meeting on October 7.
Dr. Dale Lynch, Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents, appeared before the Union County Board of Education during the workshop in August to announce that Dr. James (Jimmy) Carter is the East Tennessee Region Superintendent of 2022.
The award is bestowed on the superintendent or director of schools who has exhibited outstanding leadership not just in his or her own system but through holding various positions of leadership throughout East Tennessee and the state.
Director Jimmy Carter offered the Union County Board of Education a balanced budget with no tax increase at the regular April meeting.
The budget meets Governor Lee’s request of a $40,000 beginning salary for teachers and building the current salary bonus into the overall certified employee pay scale.
Dr. Carter discusses summer school plans
The impact of COVID-19 on learning, especially in elementary reading and math, continues to be a concern for Union County as well as our state and nation. To mitigate some of the pandemic's impact on learning, Dr. Jimmy Carter announced at the March Union County Board of Education meeting that summer school will be from June 1 through June 25 with a maximum class size of eighth students per teacher.
January 2021 School Board meeting
At the regular January meeting of the Union County Board of Education, Dr. Jimmy Carter announced that the school system is applying to be a distribution site for COVID-19 vaccine in order to vaccinate school employees according to the established age groups.
School Board Meeting December 10, 2020
“Union County Schools are not spreading COVID-19” was the message Dr. Jimmy Carter, Director of Union County Public Schools, stated as he updated the Board of Education at the December 10 board meeting on the status of COVID-19 in the schools.
At the June 11 meeting, the Union County Board of Education began preparations to open schools for the 2020-21 school year. Director Jimmy Carter informed board members that he and his staff have been working with the state-supervised Union County Health Department to ensure that the state guidelines would be followed in relation to safe measures under the COVID-19 guidelines.
The Union County Board of Education continues to dispense with business in record time, according to Chairman David Coppock. The bulk of the meeting dealt with Tennessee School Board Association recommended amendments to the board policies.
One policy recommendation was postponed in order to refine the restorative practices for returning a suspended student, and the various disciplinary procedures that should be considered before any action is taken.
In less than 20 minutes, the Union County Board of Education held a workshop, conducted a regular meeting, and dispensed with two months of business that included an agenda with twelve items plus an addendum.
The monthly workshop and meeting for the Union County Board of Education was held Thursday, July 11, 2019. Among many projects, transportation for students to sporting events was brought up as a recurring request from parents of the high school student community to Board Member Marty Gibbs. Dr. Carter said that it is a goal to own a bus for every route plus have a spare one for events like this in the future. It has been recommended that coaches begin retrieving their CDL’s in case this is an option in the future, so they can transport their own teams when and where possible.