001Uh let's pray, please. Our Father in heaven, thank you for today. Help us to realize that all of the good things we have come from you. Help us to do the very best for our students, our teachers, our employees, and our community. We pray in your name. Amen. Will you join me in the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Will we call the roll, please? Ms. Cannon? Ms. Arnold? Here. Mr. Hedge? Here. Mr. Mills? Here. Ms. Douglas? Here. Mr. Marks? Here. Mr. Blue? Here. Mr. Thornton? Here. Mr. Harkins? Here. Mr. Livingston? Here. Mr. Winters? Mr. Hyde? We have 10 present, two absent. I think we
002do have a quorum. Uh our next uh is to approve tonight's agenda and uh I would say that on tonight's uh agenda we're also approving the consent agenda, which it includes the December minutes, uh substitute spending background and checks, and then January 8th that is the School Nutrition Appreciation Day, which is plus. Move to approve. Second. Have a motion and a second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Uh next on your agenda is to to approve the transfer of William Wilson's bus route contracts to Brandon Wilson. Move to approve the change. So I pick up a motion in a second. Uh Here is favor of this when your name is called vote yes and if you are against it vote no. Shall we call the roll? Ms. Arnold? Yes. Mr. Hedge? Yes. Mr. Mills?
003Yes. Ms. Douglas? Yes. Mr. Marks? Yes. Mr. Blue? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Hargis? Yes. Mr. Livingston? Yes. Mr. Winners? Yes. 10 Yes. And that next part is approved. Uh next item on the agenda is the approval of the fall planning report. I will read that. The District 246 held their annual fall planning meeting on Thursday, December the 4th, 2025 from 2 to 6:00 p.m. at the Board of Education conference room. Uh those present were Ms. Cannon, um Ms. Blue, uh Ms. Brandy Young Douglas, Justin Thornton, Mark Hargis, Marco Winners, Brandy Arnold, Brandy Hayes, Brandy Mills, Pam Marks, Ryan Blue, and Director Mark Flores. Uh the following items were discussed at the fall planning. Daniel Armstrong and Brandy Miller, instructional supervisors, gave us a presentation on the district's annual individual school, state, and federal assessment
004scores. TLM and lastly we presented a proposal on a new Camden Elementary School. The Tennessee Municipal Bond Bond Review possible bond options for a new Camden Elementary School. Uh Scott Baylor, who is a technology supervisor, gave the board a brief overview of the new Avigilon camera system. And we reviewed the summary of the Tennessee Office of Civil Rights complaints filed against the Benton County schools in the last 3 years. And the meeting adjourned. And I say that this is going to be a motion to accept this um report. He's right in his assessment. Okay. All those in favor say I. Uh that is approved. Uh next we need to approve the uh uh uh district calendar. Uh we need to revise it. I need to clear this. Uh it has been scheduled as school, and
005we need to change that to no school because that's going to be election day. The motion's approved. I make a motion to approve. Second. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. All right. You have approved the changing that uh calendar. Uh next on our agenda is uh legislative resolutions. Uh you have a packet there and uh 834 and 63. 323. Make a motion to approve them as presented. I'll second. Is there any other question? I have a question. The next one nation making uh uh uh The first one on on the TISA each year the state gives districts this called outcome funds for tennis scores. So, that 37696 is what we usually we receive 205,000. And you can see how we distribute that. That 30,000 for other salaries and wages is for tutoring. We've
006noticed that has been our most successful tool for improving scores, so that will give our teachers more opportunity for that. And then you can see we just divided that numerous ways. Then you have the we just moved some money in from from contracts, other contracted services and contracts for subs in the maintenance and repairs. We have this discussion often. Prices are going up at home and prices are going up here. So we just moved those funds. And then the 10,400 deals and contributions, that's you remember Mr. Marco Winners went to the U Trust banquet and that's appreciation funds, that 10,400. Our plan is we're looking at a way we can recognize our employees and then have an appreciation dinner, but we're looking at different ways to make sure all 300 people our employees are recognized,
007so we're working on that. And so that's what we agreed on before. Do you have any questions? All right, if you're all approving, so if your name's called you are expected to vote no. Mr. Arnold? Mr. Arnold? Yes. Mr. Hedge? Yes. Mr. Mills? Yes. Mr. Douglas? Yes. Mr. Marks? Yes. Mr. Blue? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Hargis? Yes. Mr. Livingston? Yes. Mr. Winners? >> Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? 10 yes. Yes. Thank you for voting in the first place. Um as the next business, um y'all y'all know why Y'all know my classic way it's going to be having an opening in the third district. Um is there anyone here that would like to come before the board that's interested in that position. State your name and tell us a little bit about
008yourself. My name's Michael Gaston. I'm 34 years old. Born and raised here. My wife, Chelsea Gaston, she teaches over there probably fourth grade teacher. And a few years ago before Tim retired, I worked with him and me and him had a had a conversation about mostly me taking his seat in this district board. He passed away and I hate it under these circumstances, but um here we are. And I talked to Michael at one time previously also and I told Michael that if he ever stepped down that I'd come and let the board know that I'd step down and be interested in taking a seat. Uh I'm involved in a few other things. Um I'm the president of the Red Mountain Club for the basketball teams. Uh president of the Diamond Club for the baseball
009team. Um and like I said, I'm just interested in trying to do what I can to make anything better in our school system with our students and our teachers. So that's what I'm here for. Thank you. You don't have to go before the county commission. Yes, sir. Thank you. Is there anyone else interested? Next. Next is the only other agenda is the director's report. First of all, happy new year to everyone. Hard to believe it's 2026, but here we are. Um please continue to keep Virginia staff and teachers in your prayers. Um you know, Tim was a school board member for over 36 years. He loved his school system, but more importantly, Tim was just a a wonderful friend and a good guy. And so, he's going to be missed and uh we we wanted
010to recognize him today with a a rose and um I didn't go get his actual walking stick, but for those of you that knew Homer, you loved Homer and uh you know, he kind of told you what was on his mind and he's going to be missed, but uh on behalf of this school board and and all the employees over the years, I just like to thank Tim uh Tim's family for letting him give so many years to the school system to to make it better. So, just please continue to keep them in your prayers. Uh we need to schedule a policy and building committee meeting to discuss the policy. We have some TSBA recommendations for policy. Um we also uh I think it would be good for you to talk for us to discuss
011the TSBA and the TASL legislative agendas, um what they will be presenting to the General Assembly this year. And then also, we need to appoint a new chair because uh Mr. Hyatt was the chair of the policy committee. So, and then we'll also have to add a new member. Okay. So, um any dates that uh Neither one will take long as far as the budget of the building committee. I just think we need to um gather and and talk about the new elementary school. They will be uh TLM and uh the Tennessee Municipal and lastly, Rich will be uh presenting to the County Commission budget committee on next Tuesday, the 13th. Just basically, what they went over with us at the um retreat. What time was that? It's 5:00. Next week. Tuesday. So, is there
012any um dates that It's been called What about the 22nd on a Thursday? That's fine. policy and building do 5:30 and 6:00. We do the building first. I don't think that will take long at all. And then we'll do the policy at 6:00. Okay. So that 22nd and and that Thursday. I don't have a calendar. It is a Thursday. It is a Thursday. Give that to me, Henry. Which one? Oh. And if you're interested in serving on the policies meeting, I would encourage you to come. And even if you're not, um obviously we like to have as many as we can. And and I wanted to go back to the uh fall retreat. I can promise you number one, there's not a school board in Georgia um but I'll assure you there's not any that
013has perfect attendance at a 7-hour meeting. So thank you for that. Um If you're planning the county commission will appoint uh the board member for the third district at the uh I think it's January 20th. That's on a Tuesday because of the Martin Luther King holiday. Um the county commission will be appointing the school board member for that third district and then they would have to run in the August election. And that's the next thing I have on the agenda is it's time for term A uh board members. You if you're interested in running for office, you need to have your paperwork uh filed with the election commission by February the 19th um by noon. And those that fall into the A or uh Mr. Thornton, Mr. Hardesty, Mr. Winters, Ms. Cannon, Mr. Hedge, and
014Mr. Marks. You are the six um that will need to file by. And then obviously whoever the board uh the county commission appoints um this month at their meeting if they're interested in running for that seat they have to fill their paperwork. So, I will remind you but just want to bring that to your attention. Spring planning which is going to be in the winter but it's going to be on February the 19th from 12:00 to 7:00 p.m. Ben Torres with FEMA CTA will be here to conduct that training that's your yearly training that's required. And I've also asked Ben I gave him an agenda but I also asked him we'll be a month and a half into the general assembly to maybe spend some time to bring you all up to speed on what's
015going on in Nashville so that will be part of that. Projects over Christmas break I had some of you go in and look if you want to when you leave we did repaint the old part of the office and we did add an office. We have some more plans in the summer because it's just the old part needed some refreshing so we've done that. HVAC HVAC units were installed at the office area at Briarwood so now all we lack is the cafeteria and the chiller will be obsolete but it may be spring break before that's done. Sorry Mr. White Mr. Medlin but that's a huge project. They did pour some concrete and our plan is to put that unit in the basement but I think it's the I'm not a HVAC guy but there will
016be some things out on the outside there on the west side but it's just such a large project they're just going to wait till that during spring break. Again, we've already reached out to Carrier we're hoping they will want that chiller if it was from surplus and we can get a little bit out of it but I am tickled and I think everybody that's ever been at Briarwood is tickled that it's gone so and I'm not having complaints. I think the teachers and everyone likes being able to control their units. Electrical project at Career Technical Center which was funded by the Innovative School Model. They wrapped that up over the break. I don't know if you knew that, Dr. Shannon, but that's all taken care of. And then um we also we have the electrical
017work done at two or two of the classrooms at Big Sandy and we're just waiting on two mini splits to come in to update those units. They were about 12 years old and it just made physical sense to replace them instead of repairing so we've got those two done and that is all I have. All right. You have to have a policy meeting and it's set for 5:30. Billy said it's a good time for anyone that wants to second. Um and also our next regular meeting here February the 26th. And that concludes the business part of the meeting. Uh does anybody have any questions?