0012025 at 5:00. Um um Miss Beth, could you open us in prayer tonight? Be glad to. Father, we come to you as always for wisdom, for understanding, for what's best for our county, what's best for our students and our teachers and staff. We really need your wisdom as we make these votes tonight. You know who you have hand selected for this position. Just as when David was picked, when Samuel came, you said, "Not this one, not this one, not this one, this one." And so we ask that you would open each of our minds and understanding tonight to know which one is going to take our our county and our schools to the next level. And we just thank you for being present here in this meeting. and we give you all the praise in
002Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you. All right, we have uh public comment here and first up we have Jessica Lton. The pledge. Oh, what's that? Oh, the pledge. Yeah, sorry. The pledge I pledge algiance 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. I guess if it's not printed on the agenda doesn't exist. All right. Yeah, we are. Hello. So, thank you for your service as school board members in our community. I know it's not an easy position to fill. I'm standing here tonight as a concerned citizen, graduate, mother of two children, and aunt to two others that attend the Coffee County School System. I've listened to each of the three candidate interviews and have prayed
003about it and for each of you specifically that are making this decision. While I agree that a lot of times work history, knowledge, and experience can teach many things a degree cannot, I feel strongly that each of these candidates credentials should be examined to see what each of them can bring to the table for our system. TSBA was hired to help in this process. However, there was never a reason why or how they came about choosing the only two candidates that were chosen to interview him. It's also concerning that only one of the two had a doctorate degree. I feel candidates should have been pulled based on credentials and then worked through. If there wasn't a good fit from there, then they would pull from the next group. TSBA also recommended one of our two
004candidates to another district, which then offered to that candidate first, thus taking them out of our search. That's not good business practice, and it seems to have been a large waste of money that could have been gone to other students needs. One thing I heard was TSBA was not a waste of money. Should the candidate not work out, they'll start another search for free. I don't know how true this is, but that comment alone does not make me feel secure in the decisions being made tonight. I've been involved and vocal with my school boards after watching the board the last few years with our previous director that came from City Schools. For whatever reason, that was never specified. We see how that worked out for us in the long run. A candidate coming from another
005system into ours didn't work. As taxpayers, we're now paying two salaries to individuals to run our system. And that's a lot of money that could be used a lot more wisely for our students and especially helping our working middle-class families. Free lunches or free after-school care programs for students could have been obtained for a significant amount of time what we're paying for both directors. Therefore, while we wouldn't choose a candidate that has the credentials, knowledge, understanding, compassion, and experience firsthand where our system wants to go and what it strives to be for our students and staff at Coffee County Schools. I want to share a personal story with you and and just let you let it resonate with you. I personally seen the impact that Dr. Crabtree has had on my own family. My son
006struggled with a learning disability since we had him in private preschool at the age of one and a half. We started kindergarten in another school system. When I asked for help the first half of the school system, I was refused any help with having him tested and instead he was set in the back of the classroom away from his fe peers and facing the wall. This is not acceptable. My son had to repeat kindergarten. I knew right then and there there was a change that was going to be made and I was going to fight for my child's education. Before moving my children to Hickerson, I personally met with Dr. Crabtree shared my experience and I explained what I was going to advocate for and require before I moved them to that school. She didn't
007know me, but her compassion, encouragement, and drive to ensure my children received what was best for them is why we chose Hickerson Elementary. Dr. Crabtree followed all protocol to ensure my son was tested as soon as issues were detected by his teacher. We had an IEP in place before Christmas break. Dr. Crabtree personally kept in touch with me as well as the IEP teacher and the kindergarten teacher. Through these meetings and walking through an IEP as a team, my husband and I were able to make the decision to have my son tested for ADHD. We got the diagnosis and medicine needed to move forward with his education. Now, we're able to tailor his IEP to work for him and give him the best education and chance to be normal, thrive, and become a productive citizen
008in our own community. I'm sorry. I'm a little nervous. Um, none of this would have been possible had it not been for Dr. Cap Crabtree and her commitment to our students, their education, and their families and staff at Hickerson Elementary. Just a side note about Dr. Crabtree. She knows every child's name, every parent that goes with that child, every grandparent that goes with that child, every aunt and uncle, cousin, and so forth. That's not heard of. And that just shows right there her attention and love and commitment for our school and our community. I have no doubt that she will be fair, fight for what is right for our children, and she will do it with the utmost compassion and humbleness than anybody you're going to find. I believe you have some amazing candidates before
009you and a very hard choice to make tonight. Two of these are already working within our school system today. They've been loyal to our system and they ha and loyal to their jobs here. They see, hear, understand, and have the experience and advocate for our mission for our students. When you start a job, you expect to be able to work your way up within the job with experience and additional education. Hiring within shows your loyalty to your staff and a reward for their hard work. As the board, I believe you need to also be in tune with these things and advocate for our students, faculty, and families in the same way. Do what is right. Check the facts. Don't play into political agendas. and consider the most qualified candidate tonight. I believe there needs to
010be discussion on the three candidates openly and honestly between the board and have every board member present for this. As the school board, you owe us as citizens an explanation and the why behind who you are choosing and who you're not. It is our right to know and understand your viewpoint tonight. I know the director works directly for the board, but you as the board work for the citizens and the children of Coffee County. Your accountability is just as important as the accountability that you hold the director to to do what is right first and foremost for our children and our families in the Coffee County School System. Thank you for your time and consideration tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, we have Jennifer Peacock Hodgej. But you don't need to go down
011front because you already have a microphone. I'm not a school board member at this moment. I'm a public citizen. All right. There are a few of you that will not like me doing this. However, it is my right as a citizen of this county. And here we are. And let me just go ahead and say this is a lot scarier than sitting in that chair. And I don't like this view. Good. Give me some grace, please. Fellow board members, I am standing in front of you tonight instead of beside you because I would like to address you not as a board member but as a parent. Being the mother of three very active children in our school system is the most important role that I play and I must always advocate for my kids and
012all students. While all of you are aware that I'm a parent, I am seen and give most of my perspective as a board member. While I cannot fully separate myself from either of my roles, at this moment I would like to try so that I can share some of my experiences and observations at Hickerson Elementary School and with Dr. Kathy Crabtree. Over the past seven years, I've been at Hickerson almost daily. I've gotten to know most of the staff, students, and Dr. Crabtree as well. I have served on the PTO and the parent advisory committee and I have the honor of being a community partner for Fantastic Friday Art. I truly feel welcomed, included, and as though I know the school as much as a non-emp employee possibly can because when I step into Hickerson,
013I am treated as a parent. I do not get special treatment for being on the board. I am truly just another parent and therefore I have seen things and experienced things that gives me an insight that the rest of you do not have. Dr. Crabtree is an amazing leader. She is involved in everything that goes on at her school. She is welcoming. She is kind and she would give her own life for anyone at that school without a thought. Dr. Crabsree runs a tight ship. She expects everyone and everything to be on par with expectations. If they are not, she is willing to try new things, including moving teachers around. While a friend to her staff, she is still the head of the school, and she demands excellence because the students there deserve it. Dr.
014Crabtree is always researching, always coming up with ideas to improve. She spends money wisely and is amazing at fundraising. Kathy Crabtree has vision for Hickerson and she can extend that to our entire system. Dr. Crabtree faces problems head on. There have been a couple of times when I had to sit down with her to discuss problems that my children were having, one of which was a bullying incident. I was admittedly very upset and Dr. Crabtree handled both me and the problem with kindness and firmness. She gives clear answers, gets results, and grows from the problems that she solves. A leader who treats parents with respect and dignity, who is approachable and uncondesing is what we need in a director of schools. Dr. Crabree knows how to promote a welcoming environment that feels like home. Happy
015students, happy teachers, happy parents. She has the ability to make parents feel heard. She makes students feel safe. She makes teachers feel valued. If Dr. Crabtree were our director of schools, she would extend all of her attributes and successes to the entire system. She is the total package. Brilliant, strong, socially adept, educated, and hardworking. While I would hate to see her leave Hickerson out of pure selfishness because my kids and I adore her. Dr. Kathy Crabry deserves the job as director. I cannot praise her enough. Nor can I thank her for the impact that she and her amazing school have had on my baby's lives. The fact that TSBA overlooked her application is mind-blowing to me. The board would be doing our school system an injustice by not considering Dr. Crabtree as director. I hesitated
016to read this, but once I felt that we would probably be voting tonight without any kind of discussion first, I had to do this for my kids. I had to do this for all those students because I believe that she is the best candidate and would take our schools farther than anybody else. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we are ready to move to our action items. But our first uh we have um we need a motion to amend the agenda to include extended interviews. So So this is a motion to amend the agenda. I so move. Mr. you have a second. I'll second that. Miss Matthews. Okay. So, this is going We had a discussion during the work session for those that might not have seen it uh about doing some extended interviews with the
017three applicants and um we haven't set a set a time or anything on that. We can we can talk about that, but that is going to be uh we need to amend the agenda because that was not on on the agenda, but it's related to our special called board meeting item. So, I believe this should be allowed. So, um any discussion? I'll say a few things. What's that? I'll say a few things. Um this is the motion to amend the agenda. Oh, I thought you said any discussion. Oh, yeah. Oh. Oh. Oh, agenda. Okay, never mind. To amend the agenda. Okay. I'm sorry. Yeah. Move to All right. Sorry. So, um, with that, uh, Mr. Gilly, no. Mr. Cordell, nay. Miss Yench, no. Mr. Hansert, no. Miss Jones. I'll just like to make a statement.
018I was one that did want to ask some more interview questions of the uh, applicants and uh, we did not do that. And between that time and now, I have with all the input that I have gotten from the community and the research that I have done, uh, I'm ready to make a vote tonight. So, my vote is no. I think it would have been very helpful to have more interviews. Y'all know that. I've said that. But at this point, I'm going to say no because we're just moving on. Miss Matthews, I. Mr. Yes. And chair votes no. So that fails. Um uh one two three four five six seven. Make sure I got 722. All right. Then then we move to our first uh uh um agenda item is approval of director of schools.
019And I there's a couple ways to to vote on this and we probably need to I believe pass a motion to decide how we're going to vote on this. So we can vote I believe you can make that decision as the chair on how you're collecting the votes. All right. But that's up to you. Yeah. Um well there is one thing we didn't talk about during the work session is that um if you vote with paper ballots that have your names on them then it's going to limit discussion too and and so I think um I don't see how we can have a discussion if you're doing the paper ballots but that's so I think that's what everybody wanted though. Yeah, everybody wanted the paper ballots. So, let's just plan on doing the paper ballots
020and then um if you want to pass them out to every everybody. So, we need to make a motion to Well, I guess we don't need a motion on this one. So, we're just going to vote. I've already got one. Can I vote twice? This is in California. Oh, sorry. Hold them tight. This feels really suspicious. Oh, wait for Mr. Cordell to come back on that. I didn't even notice. He didn't even notice he snuck out. So, that's twice now. Yeah, I totally understand. So, we'll wait for him to get back. We won't send anybody to track him down. So, we pretty much know where he is. Yeah, we know where he is. He'll be back shortly. So, but he didn't vote yet, did he? Yes. Oh, he did vote. Okay. So, but let's wait
021for him to come back before we count the votes. And so, we will need at least five a quorum to u to approve a new director. So, so are you going to do the tally, Melissa? So, yeah. Okay. I would have liked to be loud and proud about my vote. I don't like writing it on a piece of paper. What's that? I would have loved to say my vote out loud and not read it on the piece of paper. Okay. I was fine either way. Better. All right. Jeopardy. Yeah. You don't want to hear me sing it, but we can Can we pull up the the Jeopardy sign? Play it on the phone. We made old music for the YouTube channel. Yeah, that's right. Maybe Mr. Dame can pull it up. So, Oh, there we
022go. All right. Jones, Mr. Scott, Jennifer Peacock College, Dr. Kathy Cra. I'm going to repeat these since my mic was not on. First vote, Freda Jones, Mr. Scott Hargrove. Second vote, Mr. Miss Jennifer Peacock Hodgej, Dr. Kathy Crabtree Beth Yench Mr. Scott Harrove Gary Cordell Mr. Scott Hargrove Holly Matthews Dr. Kathy Crabtree Thomas Ballard Mr. Scott Hargrove Chris Dr. Kathy Crabtree Scott Hansert Mr. Mr. Scott Hargrove, Mr. Robert Gilly, Mr. Scott Harrove. That is 7-3. No, six to three. Six to three. All right. Congratulations to Mr. Harrove. Um, I would in this kind of out of order here, but I would really like to give everybody an opportunity if they would so choose to uh state why they voted the way they did. You can accept or decline, but uh we did have um a
023request to uh to hear that. So, um I am more than willing to do that. So, if anybody wants to go on record here on YouTube and hey, this could be our most watched episode ever. So, Mr. Chair, Mr. Kelly, I want to say we had probably three of the most agile and capable applicants this system could have ever imagined. I don't think it's ever been done this way before with this kind of time frame of extensive study looking. We have met continuously. We have worked and worked and worked and strived. Uh I look at these last three candidates in in my opinion as a team. I would love to have every single one of them. We have two. I think I think we have an exceptional pool in these three people of very capable
024people to put this system where it needs to be because it's going to take more than one person. All right, Mr. Cordell, any comments? Uh, not at this time. Miss Yench, this was such a hard decision because I feel like we did have three very good, very qualified candidates. Um, I put a ton of prayer into this. Mr. Hargrove had I loved his attitude. I loved his positivity that we could take our our school system to the next level. Um, I don't know. That's all I know to say is that as I looked at the different qualifications, as I heard all the different people who wrote into me, by far the most letters I received were from Mr. Hardrove and their reasons for voting for him. Um, I sat across from him at supper and
025and drilled him and I don't think I shook him up one time and so I just felt in the end that he was the right candidate to and this may sound ridiculous but he reminded me the most of Dr. Powell and Dr. pal came into our system in a time that we were all very upset, very um chaotic and he offered peace, he offered calm, he offered enthusiasm and I don't know why do you vote for somebody they're qu all three of them were equally qualified and it was really hard. Dr. Cornelius is a genius at what he does for our system. Maybe a little selfishly, I didn't want to lose that genius in our system and what he already does. Um, hearing about Dr. Crabtree going to her school. She is amazing at that
026school and honestly, I didn't want to see her kids lose out on having that principal. And so we also stole one of the stars out of the co the t um system and we got to keep our stars. So all of this has been a part of my process and so that's all I know how to say. Mr. Harder, I'm uh pretty much the same way. There was uh I've got to know Miss Crabtree, Dr. Crabtree since I've become a school board member here. Um went down and actually judged a bake off contest with her uh in one of her uh fundraisers. Uh she had asked us to come down and got to know her and her husband and her son. They've left now, but uh enjoyed going out and eating with them. Dr. Cornelius
027uh the same way. uh just really got to know him since uh become a school board member. Uh the reason why I picked uh uh Mr. Tarro was u his vast experience. He had six years of military so he knows how to uh run uh a a tight ship. um his experience as a interim he was an interim uh superintendent for a year in um he's had an experience uh as a principal uh he's been in uh he's been a baseball coach uh and uh there's just so many so much more experience for myself in uh what uh I was you know looking for u and that's uh I do owe it to the people that elected me to give them a reason. So, uh, I want to acknowledge and give the reason why I
028voted for Scott Harlem. Mr. Jules. Um, the only thing I want to say it was a very hard decision and uh I felt like that I made the right choice looking at the overall qualifications of each candidate and uh the experience and to me uh experience in all levels of education is very important and that was one of the the determining factors in my decision is that as a director you not you don't you not only need to know secondary, you need to know elementary, middle, and the central office. And I feel like this one candidate fit fit that bill. And the other two were excellent also. And it was very hard decision for me to make. And uh and I I would just like for everybody to know that I have not personally talked
029to any one of these candidates outside of the interview. and uh and all the input that I got from the public uh it it kept going back to that one person and it was from teachers and community members that before were at odds with each other. there was a consensus of this one person and I thought that was that meant a lot because uh we we've got to come back together and work as one group in Coffee County schools and I hope that we've made the right decision and that that Mr. Harrove can do that for us. Mr. Hodge, I think I've said it all tonight so I'm done. Well, we wanted to give you a shot again. I would have liked to do this before we voted. That's that's all. Miss Matthews. Well, I
030I said a lot in the work session and I stand behind what I said. Um and then when it came time to uh amend the the agenda, I didn't have any backup, which was quite different from what was said in the work session, but I'm getting used to that. So, um I really don't have any comments at this time. I'll be happy to answer questions on phone or email from anybody, but I have to go back into the role of being a parent right now. So, thank you all though. Mr. Co, I'll have to u say that um you know before coming a school board member, I did not know any of the three candidates. Um, so I come into it and I base my decision solely on the interview process and what each candidate
031brought to the interview. Um, and after going through the interview process, to me, there was only one that brought that took the time to sit down and put in the foresight to have a plan moving forward, uh, a detailed plan. And that was Dr. Crabtree. and she presented each member with a book, a plan that she had. And you know, after sitting down and reading through it, to me, there was there was only one choice. And um, you know, she put the time and the effort into creating that plan and I believe she would have executed that plan. And, you know, that's that's what I base my decision on. Okay. Mr. Chairman, if I may, I just want to thank this team and I want to thank the parents. I want to thank all those
032that sent emails in and this was a tough decision. We've lost sleep over that. We had three outstanding candidates. Wow. What candidates? And uh is a tough tough tough call, but I guess at the end of the day, my thinking was that Harrow with his vast experience at all levels and one thing I've learned from Dr. at Anderson. I guess in the middle school that's a different world than elementary and whatever. And uh I'm just so thankful for the experience that the three brought to the table. And I know with Mr. Harrow's military experience, six years as a tank commander and and the army and whatever. I just thought he had such vast experience and uh tough tough tough call. We prayed about it, thought about lost sleep over it. I want to thank the
033people that called us and the input that you expressed and your concerns and your passion. Thank you'all so much. Yeah. And I just like to say that u I you know got a lot of emails, phone calls, texts, personal communications uh and otherwise. And I appreciate every you know I read them all. I paid attention to them all. I talked to people and I've like got no work done in the last week in my real job. But uh you know I took it all to heart and it was a hard hard decision but uh I you know in the end I felt that Mr. Hardrove had what we needed for and and it's funny that Miss Beth should mention that um he reminds her of Dr. Powell because I kind of think the same way
034too. He's got some of that same personality characteristics. Also the fact that he has been interim director at home schools in the past so he has some of that experience in there as well. and I just felt like like I resonated with him and and some of his answers. I went back and I looked I re-reed all my uh my scoring I did on on the questions today and you know and I I looked at all those and and looked at how I scored his answers and and he really came out on on top in my scoring on on those as well. So, in the end, we had some great candidates, you know, um whatever bone we have to pick with the SBA, we had some great candidates, and I think that we really, you
035know, um chose the best one in my mind, but but the process worked and um so that's that's my rationale. I would like to say, you know, as we wrap things up here too, we the next step is to offer a contract and we have a contract to uh Mr. Hardgrove. Um we also in that contract we have four things in the contract where we're specifying at an annual basis some stretch goals they need to hit for for bonuses. And so we're the board is going to need to come up with with four goals they want to see the new director hit. And so that's going to be kind of next on our agenda, too. So it it doesn't quite stop here, but but we will we will get that uh that contract out and
036and uh go from there. So any um so with that, any uh any final word? Holly and I have babies to go get. Can we go? All right. Are we? Well, motion to adjurnn. Yeah, I'll make that. Okay. I'll signify by standing and saying and leaving the as you