001Okay, here's your two-minute warning. All right. I'd like to uh call the December 11th work session meeting for the Y County Board of Education to order. appreciate everyone being here tonight. We've got uh we're fully staffed and so that's that's great. Glad everybody was able to make it. Um so board members, we uh put out the agenda for tonight's meeting since you supporting information. Uh obviously if there's any questions you have, you have this work session to uh uh try to get those uh addressed. But hopefully all your information you found uh found that helpful in preparing for tonight's meeting. So, this time we'll go over um our consent agenda items uh that are on our u part of our agenda and include several things that uh that we typically go through at this time.
002Uh and so we'll start with uh in your packet you will see the uh board meeting minutes from our November 6 meeting. Uh had the notes from the meeting notes from uh November 6 as well as our work session. Uh are there any questions, comments, revisions that uh regarding either of those minute notes? Okay. If not, we'll uh move down to the next item in uh consent agenda, and it's our policy report. Uh we have no uh no items in policy that we need to consider tonight. Uh do request that uh as board board members who we periodically re uh review through the policies and we'll try to get on a schedule to uh get back to uh looking at specific sections for uh for next next month. And I'll uh send us an email
003out for a reminder and we can uh pick that back up starting in January. So the next item on our consent agenda is uh we do have a list of items of surplus from uh from the uh uh maintenance items uh that uh Mr. Ally has presented to us. But also we have maintenance report uh and Mr. Ally if uh if there's anything you need to share with us uh we'll give you the opportunity to do that this time. got my song here. Um, maintenance-wise, again, we're we're pretty much uh just maintaining and and keeping everything going. Um, our uh door locks that we had a huge project. We've we've wound that down. And uh our door locks for the system are in really good shape. I'm not going to say pretty good. They're in
004really good shape. And what's so funny is we still have to work on them every day. Uh so uh but uh that part of the uh of the uh school is going really well. Uh heat and air is doing really well right now. So uh um we're in pretty good shape right now as far as and I've got some good people. We have switched to a new system that uh is keeping up with uh all of the work orders and allowing us to track uh which we always were able to track, but uh it seems like this new system is moving things a lot faster and uh we're getting a lot more things uh completed quicker. So, um uh it's it's a neat thing and and good to have that. Um, on the surplus surplus
005items, you want to go ahead and go to those? >> Okay. Um, I don't know. Do y'all have a list in front of you of those? Yes. >> Okay. >> So, your uh your first two buses, the 2010s, both were removed early. Uh, we should have those buses until 2019. Uh, the reason they were, I'm sorry, 2029. Um, so the reason they were removed early is because of our, uh, uh, Tennessee Highway in Patrol inspection. Um, they found rust on the frame and and on a body panel underneath and they they pulled those from service. Uh, so that is the reason for getting rid of those. They they don't allow us to transport students with those two buses. So we lost four years on those two. Um the 2007 it was uh it was the
00618th year this year. So we we were going to lose it anyway. Uh the 2009 also had rust. Uh we do not have a choice when they pull that. We can fix it but it costs more to fix it than it is to to uh to you know to keep the bus. the uh 2006 it was time for um the the years has got that one and the other 2006. Now the 2008 is part of our uh East Tennessee clean diesel uh partnership that we bought three propane buses and we are to crush uh or tear up three uh existing buses. Um we're actually going to run those things through a shredder over at Cooper Recycling and um that they're going to give us $33,000 for each bus that we shred. So um that those
007three buses are those are are going to be um shredded. Uh the car or the Ford at the end is uh actually a vehicle I bought uh right at 5 years ago and uh paid $2,100 for it and we've got our use out of it and the transmission was going to cost $2,300 and I just didn't feel like it was worth dealing with. So that's uh if you have any questions be glad to answer them. >> All right, board members. Uh appreciate [clears throat] that report, Mr. Alley. Board members, do you have any questions for Mr. Alley about the uh uh proposed items for uh sale or salvage >> taken out? Are they being replaced or does that cause a a strain on um moving students around? >> We were uh we were in really
008good shape until our our new THP guy took three of those buses out. Uh so u with with that uh we try to buy two buses a year. Um and this last year we bought those three. Uh but uh we we [clears throat] may be looking at again uh sometime soon as buying three buses because once all of these are taken off uh we will actually have only two sub buses and and uh I've I've seen the time when we've had five sub buses on the road. So, um, yes, we'll, uh, I'm hoping to, uh, possibly purchase a, uh, a bus at a cheap price from another school district that still has three years on it. I'm working on that right now. So, uh, we might can come up with some ideas of ways to
009to get us through without having to purchase a whole new vehicle. >> I did have one question, Mr. Ali. What how's the uh, the propane buses? Are they are they working out okay for you? >> Uh so far we have really enjoyed them. They're uh we can't say anything bad against about them. Uh they started out uh getting less mileage than than the diesel. Um as as it's going on they're they're picking up and they told us that that would happen that uh sooner or later they'll get back up to the to the same mileage that the diesel is. But uh they have plenty of power. Uh they're very quiet and uh uh I think we're going to like them. >> Do you have a uh you have a refueling station there at the bus
010garage? >> We do. We installed one right there at the gate so we can refuel everything right there. >> Okay, that's good. >> Good. Uh good discussion. Any other questions for Mr. Ally? So, Mr. uh just So, we're going to get $33,000 for the shredded buses. >> Yes. Um >> each each. So, uh basically, we bought uh three buses and and they're they're going to pay for 108,000 on the on the third bus. So that's that's good. Are they going to let you come up there and watch them being shredded? >> Yeah, we have to take them. So I'm definitely I have to film it. They have to this the the regulation show I have to to sit there. So I get to film the whole thing. >> That might be [snorts] a good uh
011a good Warrior Media project to post out. See >> that might be Yeah, it was pretty. >> Here's how here's how metal gets recycled. We we've got all kinds of people volunteering to take those buses up there. [laughter] >> Yeah, >> Mr. Alley. >> Yes. >> Uh the ones that we've had to take out early, there wasn't no way that we could have shredded any of those. >> Well, I mean, we can shred them. Um typically we uh those we uh put on gov deals and sale. Um and we can get a little bit more money out of them than we can shredding them. U you know, uh they come and go. Right now you're you're averaging probably getting $2,500 per bus as selling them right now on gov deals. So that seem that's a
012little bit we make a little bit more money than we would shredding them. >> So just uh for clarity though the $33,000 that you're getting for shredding those buses that was part of the pro the the project for going to the pro propane. Correct. >> That's correct. It's a East Tennessee Clean Fuels there. It's a grant type deal that they will uh give us that to take three diesel engines off the road. So, it's good. All right. Very good. Any other questions for Mr. Ally? Okay. If not, then we'll go uh next uh Miss Officer will have our budget report for this month. So this is the report from the financial position of the White County [clears throat] School System for the period ending November 30th, 2025. Overall, the school system's financial position remains stable
013through these first five months of the fiscal year. Revenues are generally tracking as expected and expenditure activity is consistent with historical trends for this period. Through the end of November, total revenues for all school funds were $16,467,99 while total expenditures and incumbrances totaled $19,396,415 resulting in a combined estimated balance of 17,526,659. This compares to the beginning funding balance of 20,455,164, which again is consistent with normal seasonal patterns prior to the peak property tax collection within the general purpose school fund. Revenues through November represented a 2.52% increase over the same period of last year. Expenditures and incumbrances total was also an increase of 7.37% from November 24. Increases continue to be driven largely by salaries and benefits of instructional staff, higher expenditures on supplies and materials across the instructional and support functioning and several areas of
014routine capital and maintenance spending. Local option sales tax collections for the year date to sorry year-toate total is 1,90,64 reflecting continued growth over prior year receipts. TISA funding continues to be lower than last year, but is generally in line with our budget expectations. School federal projects fund revenues are 11.66% lower than the prior year, while expenditures are 13.34% lower, largely due to federal funding changes. expenditures are outpacing revenues, which is typical with this fund, the way that operates on a reimbursement basis. The Central Cafeteria Fund revenues show an increase of 31.16% over this prior year, primarily due to the timing of the federal reimbursement receipts. Expenditures have increased slightly at.56% driven by food and supply cost increase. As in previous years, the fund is expected to reflect a temporary deficit at this point in the
015fiscal year until reimbursement flow stabilizes. Thank you, Mr. Markham. Echo that. And thank you, Miss Officer, for uh for our budget report. Uh board members, any questions or comments regarding our school financial positions? Okay. If not, then we'll go to uh the next item and that is budget amendments and transfers. Have uh three items there that uh been asked to consider tonight. So, uh I'll let Mr. Dumbar speak to those. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um we have an adjustment made in 141 uh spe special education preschool grant. Uh just an adjustment from um some materials and supplies over to uh educational assistance to pay for uh some salaries and benefits for the employees working in that program. Uh and then we also have uh in fund 141 uh this is an amendment of asking to
016budget some revenue of $300 and this is budgeting funds that are awarded for a stipen to conduct a youth wellness survey. So budgeting those funds that are coming in. And then finally u fund 142. This is sub fund 801 CTE Perkins basic grant. Uh this is to transfer about 40 44.93 and 30 cents. Uh to transfer funds needed for CTSO uh travel for bus drivers and benefits. This is um career and I try to think of the acronym career and technical student organizations for them to travel to their to their conferences and that's all the budget amendments. Thank you Mr. Stroberger. Um so uh just in review uh three budget amendments um uh none of those uh significant dollars uh in the big picture to uh to typical budget uh amendments and transfers but u
017the only one is there am I correct is there only one that is new money and that's the stipen money for youth wellness survey >> yes I correct that's the only money coming in others or two are just transfers >> okay so just uh for everyone's clarity I mean these are funds that uh are just moving from category but uh it's not an increase to uh of increase in revenue or unexpected expense from uh from what we pre previously had budgeted comments and questions on those transfers. >> I'm assuming that these have to go through county commission Mr. Mark them. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> All right. If uh no other questions and we'll move down to uh the next item. That's our personnel report included in your packet was uh uh was
018application tracking for the month of November as well as personnel changes for uh for the for the same month. Uh any questions or comments regarding u personnel changes. All right, then we'll move to uh the next one and that is our threat assessment report uh that was included in your package. Please see that uh of the four threats that were uh that were uh investigated uh there were no findings of threats and all those have been closed out. So any questions regarding those? All right, then we'll uh move forward. And this is uh some continuation of uh approval of school fund uh school clubs. As you recall, I think it was last last month, we uh went through and and uh cleaned up some uh uh some of our uh accounting of uh of school
019school clubs within uh within our district. Um, we have uh two new uh requests uh for uh new proposed school clubs. Uh one is a White County High School fantasy football club and the other is a uh conspiracy theories and unsolved mysteries club and uh both of those in the in the high school uh those those information on those clubs were included. So uh and those applications were uh were turned in. Uh no funds uh required and and no monies generated in in uh in either of those clubs. >> I do have one question, Mr. Chairman. Uh and this is probably for Mr. Groberger, but once all of these clubs are established and approved through this board, um they don't have to be approved ever again. Correct. Now, according to uh policy, they don't have
020to be reapproved, but we just uh went through this process because we had some clubs up there that hadn't gone through the normal process. And so, these like these in front of you are just based on current student interest. So, we understand those clubs will change from time to time, but moving forward, if a new club is established, it'll go through the correct protocols and make sure we have them all on track. >> So, we're just seeing the the large number of of clubs because they're going back and getting their accounting processes corrected. Correct. >> Getting everything um transparent on on the top end so that we know what kind of clubs we have and anything future will will come just like we're seeing now. >> That's correct. And those that you see tonight um
021there were that I believe that coach Craig's original request for was for day trading club and there might have been one other that didn't make and so these are actually just replacing those two. Uh so those day trading clubs that he had. So uh they will take the place of those and um and so and then I added the initially we didn't have the 10 signatures required so that's why those are separate files. I asked him to get those signatures and we submitted those as well. >> Any other questions on the uh on the clubs that we've been asked to uh consider consider approving tonight? >> I would like to make one comment. Um, we did a little bit of years ago, a decade ago, we were doing a little fantasy basketball, I think, at
022Northfield. And there's a there's there's so much math that you can do with that. There's so many stats and things. And I know Coach Craig will take advantage of that as a math teacher himself. He'll be all over that. Um, but there's actually uh there's actually course work. there's a a curriculum that written to teach a math course on fantasy sports and uh so it's it's actually a really intriguing aspect and so they will learn a lot. They'll have fun but they'll actually learn a lot uh through that process as well. It's very unique and cutting edge way to get education into uh some funds. That's great. All right. Any other questions regarding the clubs? All right. If uh not then we have uh uh one request for for travel um overnight travel and that's
023the uh White County High School Interact Club uh for a district conference in March. uh they will be traveling to Pigeon Forge and that has uh gone through all the u uh approval processes with the exception is does the director has a director of schools approved this? >> Okay. All right. So uh it's not on your signature but the director confirms that he has uh approved this uh this travel request. So it meets all the all the approval uh requirements. So uh any questions regarding that travel request? Mr. Chairman, there's also uh in the next file uh there's softball request for travel and hosa. Yes. So there are three files and on the HOSA one the um it is the actual the middle request I believe that had an overnight stay that needed approved. The
024other two are during the day. It would not need approval, but just wanted to make that clarification. So, there are actually three files on that line item for Interact, softball, and hosa. >> Thank you for pointing that out. I was going down the list and not across. So, so yeah. So, you've got the Interact Club. Um, that does say though March 2nd through travel March 2nd through March 4th. Pigeon Forge first one does. Then softball has an overnight trip to u to uh Hixon, Tennessee for a softball tournament in March. And then uh and then the next one is uh the HOSA which is just a one day >> trip. >> Correct me Mr. McDonald, I'm sorry. Oh, okay. >> March 29th. >> All right. Thank Thank you for being my right-hand man and correcting
025that. All right. Great. That's right. For the uh for the state convention overnight. So, all right. >> Mr. Chairman, just and just for clarity, softball actually has two. >> Just just want to be very transparent. >> Oh, okay. Yeah. So, so there Thank you. See, that's the reason why I have you guys on the board. Appreciate it. Um, you know, >> all right. All right. Thank you. Point out. So, we have all our travel requests in. I'll do a better job next time, Mr. Smith, Mr. McDonald, on staying on top of that. All right. Any questions regarding travel requests? All right. So that uh concludes all the items on our consent agenda. Uh if there's any questions you have, any desire to pull anything out for uh during our regular meeting, I'll give you the
026opportunity to do that before we uh approve the u uh the agenda for tonight's meeting. Um just one item of new business. [clears throat] Um, we've been asked to to consider a uh fun fundraiser request and this is tennis track and wrestling uh that had uh discovered that they had a conflict with uh uh an approved u fundraiser that they were going to do uh with another event. And so now they've requested to go to uh crowdfunding replacement uh crowdfunding as a replacement for their their fundraising um for this year. So, uh, we're going to be asked to consider that in new business. Um, other than that, we have, uh, we're spotlighting Castle tonight and, uh, so look forward to hearing, uh, Miss, uh, Miss Hicks and, uh, all of our, uh, students and parents
027will be coming from, uh, from Castville. So, um, that'll that'll be one of the one of the highlights of tonight's agenda. So, any other questions, comments, board members? Okay. If not, we'll uh conclude our adjourn our work session and begin with our regular meeting at 6 o'clock. Thank you. Hey, this is our twominute warning. We'll start a meeting in two minutes. All right. At this time, I'd like to call the December 11th meeting of the White County Board of Education to order. If you would please rise, and Miss uh Cali Odell, 11th grade student representative, will lead us in a pledge. To the flag of the United States of America and to the reps nation, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you, Miss Odell, and appreciate everyone being here tonight. Uh we have
028our uh our uh uh staff, central office staff. Appreciate you being here. uh members of the community uh have have uh representatives from uh from Castle who will be spotlighting tonight. So, we appreciate your uh your your attendance and being part of our meeting tonight. Um before we uh consider approving tonight's agend agenda, please note the following that uh Tennessee code annotate and board policy 1400 state that every meeting of the board shall be open to the public except where law while allows for a closed session. The agenda for the board meetings are posted on the district's website at www.wh coastschools.net. And the agendas are posted at least 3 days prior to each meeting. Public acts of 2023 and chapter 300 and board policy 1404 state that each board meeting shall include an agenda item
029reserved for public comment as well as the conditions under which those wishing to comment will be recognized. A signup sheet is made available prior to the beginning of each regular meeting and individuals who have signed up to speak during this portion of the meeting will be recognized in the order listed on the signup sheet at the point in the agenda designated for public comment. The board meetings are streamed with the help of our central office technology staff for live or recorded viewing. Links are provided on the district's website. Attending and or speaking during tonight's meeting implies consent for comments and appearances to be used. So before we con uh consider tonight's agenda, uh does anyone on the board have a conflict of interest with any item that's being considered on our agenda tonight? >> Mr.
030Chairman, as I do each and every month, um only one item on this agenda is a conflict for me, but my wife is a uh an educator in this system and all the uh comments that you hear from me tonight are uh of my own and the best interest of the students. But I will be recusing myself from the new business item 13A, the fundraiser request. Those fundraisers are being run uh and administered by my daughter-in-law who will be compensated for those um through her company. So I just uh I think it's best for me to not vote on on 13A the fundraiser request. So I will be recusing myself from that one. >> Thank you, Mr. McDonald. >> Mr. Chairman, I do not have a conflict of interest on tonight's agenda, but my husband
031is employed by the district. >> Thank you, Mr. Officer. >> Mr. Chairman, I I too have a spouse that works for the [clears throat] school system, but nothing on the agenda poses a conflict of interest. >> Thank you, Mr. Smith. So, uh, Miss Sims, please let the meeting reflect that, uh, uh, Mr. McDonald, Miss Officer, and Mr. Smith uh all state that they have spouses working for the district and that Mr. McDonald uh will be his recusing himself from agenda item 13A as uh to avoid a potential of conflict. So thank you uh board members for stating that. Um so at uh this time we will uh consider approval for the agenda for tonight's meeting. I believe >> board members you've had the opportunity to review the the agenda for tonight. So, do I have
032a motion for approval? >> So, move >> motion by Mr. McDonald. I have a second. >> Second by Miss Fowler. Any uh questions or discussion? >> Okay. Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion passes. Next is our consent agenda. Uh during our work session, uh board members reviewed uh and our board meeting minutes and our work session meeting minutes from our November 6th meeting. Uh we also uh recovered our policy report which there was no policies for us to consider tonight. Uh there was a maintenance report that was submitted uh by Mr. uh Mr. Ally uh of which we reviewed surplus items uh that are to be be sold. Uh there was a budget report was was given by Miss Officer. Uh the the district is financially
033sound and in in uh tracking as expected. Uh there were three budget amendments and transfers that were uh that were reviewed of which one consisted of new monies of $300. Uh we reviewed our personnel reports, our threat assessment report which we're pleased to say that there are no open or credible threat assessments uh for within our district. Uh there were uh two uh approval of uh two new school clubs and there were also uh travel overnight travel requests that were being made by several high school organizations. Board members, I would like to draw your attention to uh item 6A, the approval of the board meeting minutes. Um our student representatives, Miss Sackett and Miss Odell. Uh they mentioned failed mention we they I failed to give them the opportunity to speak uh during our work
034session that they meetings reflect that they were in attendance in November, but they were not. So uh if we just make that u correction to the minutes. So would appreciate that, Miss Sims. But board members, uh those are items in our consent agenda. If uh if there are any items in the agenda that uh that you wish to uh have discussion on, we'll remove those to the uh new business. But uh if they're uh give you the opportunity to speak to that if uh if at this time request for any item to be removed. Okay. Then if there's no objections, consent agenda will be adopted by unanimous unanimous vote as presented. So next item on our agenda is our school spotlight. As you aware that uh this year we are uh recognizing artists of the
035year awards and uh tonight we're privileged to have uh Miss Shauna Hicks, principal at Caspal. And uh she will be uh making presentations and uh so like to recognize Miss Hicks at this time. Okay. Well, first of all, I just want to say thank you for allowing me and my kiddos and their families to be able to join you all for your meeting this month. Um, you know, I get tickled at myself every year when Mr. Drumberger sends out what the theme is for what we're going to recognize. It puts so much pressure on me because I feel like it's so important to be able to bring you all the best version of Castville Elementary and the best kiddos that we that we have to be able to present to you all. So, tonight I
036have brought four. It looks like only three of them are here though. Um, so actually the first one that I'm going to recognize, she's not here, but if it's okay, I'd like to still recognize her. Um, it is Miss Jocelyn Ross. Um, she is a fifth grader at Castville who excels in pretty much everything that she does. Um, she's top of the class academically, always willing to lend a helping hand to her teachers and to her peers. Um at the beginning of the year, Jocelyn was the winner of um we have a bullying contest um at our school level and then the winners from the school is represents um our school at the district level and they select a winner from there. So she was the winner of our bullying contest. The special thing about
037Joselyn and the reason I kind of wanted to highlight her with that is obviously we did that during class time, but Jocelyn really went above and beyond, took her project home, put extra time and effort um and obviously it paid off for her because she ended up being the representative for our school. So just very very proud of her. So up next is Miss Brook Moore. So, Miss Brooke actually moved um to Castville uh with us in the middle of the year last year um to to finish out um her elementary career with us. And so, she has been such a wonderful addition um to our school and to her fifth grade class. But last month um the district um held um a competition during red red ribbon week um in which we did um
038a competition with each grade level um with a uh coloring contest. And so each grade level winner was obviously recognized on behalf of our school, but then they went on to rec uh compete against the district. And so Brooke not only won for our school, but she also was the fifth grade representative um for the entire district. >> [applause] >> So, when Mr. Drumberger first said that um artist of the year was um what we were going to try to highlight, you know, it's very natural, I feel like, to automatically go to who can paint or who can draw or who can color well. And we sometimes don't necessarily realize that the artist umbrella can be so large. And so the next couple uh young men that I'm going to recognize fall under that larger
039artist umbrella. And so the first one I want to bring to your attention is Mr. Zachariah Marquez. So Rya is a third grade student at Castle and um you know naturally like I said to you earlier I really take a lot of pride in who I bring before you all. And so I had sent that out to my teacher. Who do you think would be which which is my music teacher actually nominated Rya and so a few of the things that he said about Rya. So Rya takes guitar lessons um outside of school obviously and so Mr. Carr said that he is an excellent singer and for his age he has incredible sense of pitch and rhythm. [applause] That's you, Jason. Okay. And lastly, I want to recognize Mr. Tucker Hurt. So I think one
040of the most powerful things that I personally am not an artist of any sort of the imagination but if someone is artistically inclined I think one of the most beautiful things that they have to offer is how they connect with who they present their art to who looks at their art who interprets their art and and how they how they make other people feel with their art. whether they're writing a song that someone can relate to, whether they paint a picture that someone can relate to. And so that's really why I focused on Tucker. I'm not going to tell you that Tucker is the best drawer or painter or any of those things. I don't even know if Tucker can draw a stick man. But what I do know is that Tucker throughout this semester
041has taken it upon himself to create gifts for one of his previous teachers. and he's done it about three or four times throughout the semester so far. And what he has done is he creates little things for her. He's not in her class anymore. And he takes it in the afternoons and he drops it off to her. And so to Tucker, it's probably a very small act. Like he probably doesn't think much about the things that he creates for her, but he will probably never truly understand the joy that he brings to that teacher every time that he delivers one of those gifts to her. >> [applause] >> Thank Thank you, Miss Hicks. Um, audience, we're going to take a recess. We'll give uh parents and uh those from district opportunity to take some pictures.
042So, please come up, get the best picture you can. We'll uh we'll give you the opportunity to do that at this time. All right. Thank you, Miss Hicks. And congratulations, students, uh, and and parents. We really appreciate you being here uh, tonight. You're more than welcome to stay for the entirety of the meeting, but we understand that schedules get compressed, and if you need to, uh, excuse yourself, you're more than welcome to do that. But thank you very much for coming out and let allowing us to uh to have your students be recognized. All right. So at this time I'll call call our meeting back to order. Uh the next item on our agenda is our student representative report. So uh recognize uh Miss Sack and Miss Odell. >> Thank you. This month has been
043very exciting for our students with several accomplishments and upcoming activities to highlight. We'd like to recognize three of our senior athletes who have officially signed to continue their athletic and academic careers at the collegiate level. Gracie Clark has signed with the University of the Cumberlands. Bella Winningham will be attending Johnson University and Kylie Norville will continue her journey at Belmont University. We're incredibly proud of these student athletes for their hard work and dedication both on and off the field and court. As we head into winter break, students are wrapping up their first semester classes with the EOCC and of course in semester exams. Early graduates will soon complete their final requirements and transition out for the semester until they come back in May to receive their diplomas. All student organizations have remained active and engaged
044with a few new clubs appearing such as Club America, a high school version of Turning Point USA, WCHS Fantasy Football Club, and Conspiracy Theories and Unsolved Mysteries. Beta Club recently attended the state Beta Convention in addition to many members volunteering in the nursing homes for dinners, and they can soon be expected to be back at NHC and Life Care for Christmas carolling next week. The FFA chapter has been especially busy as well. Senior members are putting in the time and effort to complete their state degrees, and students are completing their proficiency applications, which highlight their achievements and commitment to agriculture, education, and leadership. Meanwhile, our leadership teams and individual speakers are hard at work preparing for their upcoming competitions in January and February. Our student council is spreading some holiday cheer this season by hosting
045an Elf on the Shelf hunt throughout the school, giving students a fun and festive way to get involved before winter break. The elf has gone missing by the way. >> It has. >> Yeah, it has gone missing. Uh we made it to I think Wednesday it was when it got stole. So, and the they win a prize, a little Christmas tree Debbie cake. Those have also gone missing. So, and they were uh near the principal's offices. So, I'm not going to say anything else. Um, but we're looking forward to having a break, much needed free time to spend with family and friends over the holidays. And upon return in January, the student body looks forward to a change in classes, the winter formal dance, and a new year. That's all. >> Thank you. Thank you,
046ladies. Uh, board members, any uh comments for the uh for our student representatives? >> Was just wondering, Mr. Young, have you been to the high school and took the elf and eat the Christmas tree cakes? >> Mr. McDonald, I have an alibi for the elf, but I'm not going to comment on eating the little Debbies. >> Thank Thank you, ladies. Uh really appreciate your uh your thoroughess and recognizing your your fellow classmates in in your reports. Well, well done. So, that brings us to the next item on our agenda and that is school board strategic plan. Uh one of the four charges that school boards have uh is to have a strategic plan for for the district. And the uh district is uh is uh tasked with putting together several plans. Some of those required
047by statute uh and uh for for the state and serves its purpose. Um we also had we're for very fortunate to have uh administrators uh and and our our and Mr. uh come together and put together a a strategic plan for the the district that had to be part of the uh our our state strategic plan. Um and as a board, we approved that. But uh when the board got together uh back in in July, we uh we felt the need that there needed to be something for the district that had our our uh our our fingerprints on it. And so what we did in July is we set out to develop a strategic plan for the district to complement the other plans in place as that are required by the state. That led us
048to August where we held a workshop to review a SWAT from the board's perspective and we all came together and and went through the exercise of a of a SWAT uh coming up with strengths, weaknesses and opportunities and threats uh from our perspective. And from that uh work workshop, we uh agreed to survey the administrators, parents and students of our district to get their feedback. that was done in uh in the August and September time frame and we reconvened in September and we reviewed the information uh to identify areas of improvement that if focused on would have meaningful impact on the students of our district and the educational process. In October, we distilled the top results into one area of focus to become our strategic plan for the next 36 months. And in November, we
049got together and discussed the the why behind our our plan. That led us to uh last Tuesday night where we met to finalize our thoughts and bring this this plan forward for board consideration. And our strategic plan is as follows. The White County School Board is committed to a traditional of excellence in the educational process we provide to White County. Our vision of what excellence looks like is students know that teachers, administrators, parents, and guardians are invested in their education. In order for that vision to be realized, our mission will be to create a cultural shift that leverages parents, guardians, and educators engagement in the students education. Our strategic objectives based on survey results from September 2025 is to move stakeholder engagement from a perceived weakness to a strength for our district. We will work
050with our director, administrators, PTO organizations, teachers, and support staff, parents, guardians, and students to achieve this objective. That will include coming up with tactical objectives in preparation for our 2026 2027 school year. and implement those objectives through the 27 27 2028 school year. During this time, we will have reports and survey results to measure the effectiveness and efforts to in order to reach this goal. So, at this time, board members, I would entertain a motion to approve this strategic plan that I've just presented to you uh as our plan for a board moving forward. >> Mr. Chair, I would I would make that motion uh that this board adopt that strategic plan that you just outlined. >> Thank you, Mr. McDonald. Do I have a second? >> Second by Miss Officer. Board members, it's time
051for discussion. I don't know that there's much more that that we can say um other than just to thank the administrators and the parents and and guardians and grandparents who who took um a role in the uh the survey that we sent out for us to gather this data um and to make sure that that we're along, you know, we're going to align uh oursel and this board and this school district with what the the data come back to say uh and we want to get, you know, more parental involvement, uh, and get it, you know, get our our students engaged, get our, you know, our our moms and dads and and all those engaged in their education. And um I think that's an important part of the social aspect of of our schools is
052to have that engagement to where um our students feel like they're they're wanted and they're they're they want to be here and they they they're wanted as far as the the teachers and the administrators love them and and and I think it's evident tonight to see uh with Miss Hicks standing here um with these these young folks that you know they're they're not artist but they do things and they're teach they're reaching those teachers and those teachers they don't know what an impact that they've had on those teachers' lives and those kids probably don't know what an impact that those teachers have had on their lives until they get back to um when they get out of school. Um I can think back to some of my educators I had when I was in elementary
053school and they still have a profound uh impact on my life uh to this day. So, uh, I think it's good work by this board, and I think we've we've put in, uh, our due diligence to to develop a strategic plan, uh, that will see this school district through, uh, at least the next 36 months, um, and will will make us be better at what we do. >> Thank you, Mr. McDonald. >> Mr. Chairman, I would like to say that I like this strategic plan because it is continuing to gain information. We did those surveys and we have great appreciation for everyone who took time to fill out that survey and now we're taking action on that survey and we're going to follow up with you to see how we're doing. So, we want to
054have that accountability. We like the parent engagement because we're ultimately accountable to you all. So, this is going to be a collaborative effort with our district across these next 36 months. >> Thank you, Miss Officer. Anyone else? I'd just like to say um first of all, I appreciate this board being willing to go through uh this exercise. um did take some extra effort and uh stretched us a little bit in our thought process. So I I really appreciate appreciate that. Um hope that the uh community and our district um and all stakeholders realize that uh uh we uh we do want to be excellence in be excellent in our the process of of providing delivering education uh to the students and we think that uh there's a lot of people that stakeholders that play in
055play a role in that and we want to uh we want to foster that culture that uh that that makes that happen and uh in in the best way we possibly can. Uh for administrators and and staff, we hope you know that we're not asking you to put to do any more um than what you already already do, but uh hope that throughout the process that you can help uh collaborate with with us and all stakeholders to way where if there's best practices or things that need to be recognized in areas that we can uh to move and really uh be perceived as uh as those that are um that are uh very much invested and committed to uh to the educational process and the the students feel that and leveraging resources u uh wherever
056they're available that uh you can help us do that so that uh we uh just promote u opportunity to facilitate u uh uh better education for our students or creating that that culture where they they realize that people are are really invested in that because as adults we realize from the hard work that you do. Uh we see it, but uh the end of the day, we want to do our best to try to make sure that u that students and uh and families realize that that too. And we think that's collaborative ef e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e ef effort. So,
057uh really appreciate uh appreciate everyone's uh uh uh support for us in this in this effort and uh we look forward way that we can come back and in meetings in the future to to report on good things that are happening, ways that we try to to move this needle. Any more discussion? Okay. So, uh, we have a motion and a second on the floor to adopt this as our strategic plan, uh, for 2026 through 2028. Uh, so this time, all in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion passes. Next leads us to our, uh, district updates. So, allow Mr. John Barger to speak, give us update on the district. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, personnel reports are in your folders. We've had a few changes in recent days, but all
058classes and bus routes continue to be fully staffed with qualified personnel. Uh on the health front, we are monitoring illness levels in the schools. There have been pockets of absenteeism due to illness at various schools, but nothing significant on a district level. We'll continue to monitor and adjust as needed. Financially, you heard earlier that in the financial report, the district is in sound financial position. Uh however, this week the district was awarded uh $372,000 in outcomes funding from the state. This money comes from a formula based on how students performed on last year's state testing. So excited to get that news. Athletically, uh high school basketball season is underway and spring sports are in the conditioning phase of their seasons. Uh building projects, exterior brick work has been comp completed at Doyle. Uh the crews
059will punch through the existing building uh into into the existing building during the Christmas break. And as you heard earlier, our maintenance team is doing a great job of completing work orders and securing our buildings. Academically, White County Schools is proud of its recent showing on the state report card. Our eight schools received four A's, three B's, and one C. As you know, we're also a level five out of five on Tivos Growth. and six of our eight schools or 75% of our schools are considered to be reward schools. So these are excellent scores and evidence of the great work that's happening in our school buildings. Uh Christmas break schools will close at 9:30 next Wednesday morning, December 17th for Christmas break and schools will reopen on Monday, January 5th. Uh now as a note
060on behavior, you may recall that White County Schools was recently recently received the groundbreakers award at the state level for its work with behavioral interventions. Uh much of the credit is due to the leadership of our behavioral specialist, Mr. Richard Bumble, and our RTI supervisor, Miss Farah Griffith. And at this time, I'd like to give the floor to Miss Griffith, who's going to provide us with an RTI 2B update. So, the real star of the show, Richard Bumble, is not here this evening. Um he actually works at one of our afterchool programs helping some kids with behavior in the afternoons and that goes until 5:30. So that's where he is this afternoon. Um we were glad to be able to be awarded um at the sped conference last month the groundbreakers award and you know
061we always want to reach higher and further. So we are now charting a new path toward the next award which no one statewide has earned. So, we'd like to be the first and presenting to our fine board and community as a part of that next step. Um, when I came on board four years ago, actually Richard and I went to high school together, so we go way back. Richard came to me and he uh and I had worked together at the middle school some with behavior and he said, "I really have this scatterbrained idea that I'd like for us to work on putting behavior and academic interventions together." And you guys probably have heard through conversations with schools and principles and parents that behavior is kind of becoming something that we struggle with from time
062to time because of lack of consequences. And White County um for the past 14 years has done a really good job with academic intervention. And to just give you a quick overview of that, once a month the intervention team meets together and looks at the academic successes and needs of students and we place those folks in intervention as needed, whether that be special ed intervention or just a tiered intervention or even just in the classroom small groups during our gaps time so that we can get those skill deficits taken care of. And it had kind of become my experience that some of those conversations in those meetings about unsuccessful students hinged more from behavior than academics. And sometimes we were pulling some of those kids and putting them in a smaller academic setting to try
063to curb behavior. So it made sense when Richard comes and says let's start this process. I could immediately see that we had a need for that. So, we started this journey with the 10AN network because, you know, education loves acronyms. Uh, but the Tennessee tiered support center um has several locations statewide. Here locally, we work with Vanderbilt. So, a team from Vanderbilt took us on as a project and they have supported us. They provide um PD for schools and um districts that are wanting to better their process for intervention. So the first step was creating teams. So we decided that we would start with our elementary schools and the middle school. The middle school already had a plan in place and we had learned a lot and had some growing pains but were feeling pretty
064good about where we were there. So they kind of became the flagship to start programs at all the elementary schools. But we tried to be very strategic in picking the right people to do the work. So we wanted an administrator from every school on our team. We wanted regular classroom teachers on our teams, of course, the interventionists because they're so instrumental in the intervention process already, and then school counselors because when we're talking behavior, they're an instrumental part of that for us. So, we formed teams from each school um and trying to be as least invasive to classroom time as we could. We tried to strategically pick folks that we could be less impactful um in picking when and where to have our meetings so that we weren't bothering the academic process as we went.
065One of the first steps uh with the 1010 network was self assessment and I didn't I know I am pretty um competitive but I realize I work with a lot of really competitive people and when we sat down and we had to score ourselves on a range of things that took about an hour and a half to do it pained us to give ourselves low scores. You know, you think you're good until you really get down and start looking at things. But it did tell us that we had areas to grow. So we did a district assessment that Mr. Drumberger, uh, Dr. Thompson at the time, Richard and some other key folks sat down and did a district assessment and then Richard and I went school to school and we did assessments at each school
066and it was very soularching and every school was very competitive, too. So giving yourself a one is difficult, but we gave ourselves those needed ones that gave us areas that we could grow. And we're going to look for just a second um at how that's going thus far. So we found out through those initial things that we needed some professional development for teachers on behavior. We [snorts] needed um to better manage data for behavior. You know, we're really good at looking at academic data. Um, but we would walk in and say, "Oh, you know, little Johnny, he's just terrible. He just misbehaves all the time." That's not concrete data. So, we worked on getting a system to manage that. And then having a universal behavior screener so that would give us that behavioral data to
067lay alongside our academic data. So, our first step in the process was we had tier one behavior um PD for all of those folks on the team and the Vanderbilt ladies came and provided us with a really long grueling but very informative day of professional development and we left from that day saying we need time to work. So when they came back to work with us for our second day, they heard our concerns. And uh Richard and I wanted all the schools to leave with work products rather than sitting all day and then having to go back and do extra work that there's not time for or um extra funds and fame for. So we then shifted into creating those things while we were here in our session too, which I was very thankful that
068our Vanderbilt friends heard our concerns and and kind of changed the program to help us out. So establishing expectations for every school and those look different. You know, Miss Hicks's school at Castle is much smaller than Woodland Park. So those things have to be very specific for each school. So we develop those expectations um for different places. is, you know, the way I act in the cafeteria is quite different than the way I'm probably going to have to act in an assembly or in the gym. So, creating all of those things and lesson plans so that teachers had things in their hands to be able to teach those schoolwide expectations so kids knew what was expected of them. Did I die? Nope. So every school and this is just a sample. This is the the
069middle schools and every school has an acronym for behavior or what their uh social expectations are. And we have those classroom expectations and hallway and gym and cafeteria. Um how to respect technology, the library assemblies so that we kind of knew what that needed to look like. It was very interesting sitting down with teachers, the conversations about what constitutes an office referral. What do I handle in my classroom? How do I know which is what? Everybody's threshold is a little different, but it was kind of interesting to see. We were kind of all over the map as a district on what our classroom expectations needed to look like. So creating all of these things through our time together led us into our schools and all of our schools as I mentioned a minute ago have
070their expectations. This is Northfield. They're the Huskies. Theirs is Pause. The Falcons rise. So having those behavioral expectations posted throughout the building so that it's always present in front of students. Getting students involved in the process. The middle school, this is one of Richard's favorites. Every fall they do uh a poster contest by home room and this gets the kids understanding what it means for all of the tenants of armor being respectful and motivated and organized and responsible. So a fun opportunity for kids to get involved and work together and make sure that they know those expectations. And then of course the middle school, if you saw the expositor back in the fall, the new armor uh mural on the wall, keeping those things ever present in front of our students. So just quickly to
071show you, we started at the end of the year in 23 and you can see where we scored ourselves versus where we were in spring of 25. So we've made a lot of growth um in the areas of leadership, decision making, uh instruction and intervention, and assessment. And then here's our district um growth. So that's overall how we feel about where we are. Um I was kind of proud of us this past uh November session. We would love to give ourselves five, but we said, you know, those are still areas that we need to grow in and work on. And then there's our award that we um got to accept in October. And then our next one as I mentioned earlier is the community builders award and no one has gotten that in the state.
072So where we are at this point every month when we sit down and we talk about those academic expectations of students we have time carved out during that session to discuss behavior. We use a program called Swiss where office referrals and classroom referrals go in. So, we can pull up little Johnny and we can see that he's been in trouble 12 times in the classroom and he has three office referrals. And then we can go into kind of the same process that we do for academics. This student needs a tier 2 intervention. What does that need to look like? Is that check-in, check out? So, we can work through a system and maybe strategize better behaviors for those students. Um, and those meetings are very, very eventful and packed because those happen every 40 minutes
073for the entire school day at each school. And we we have every teacher from each grade level. We have the school psychologist, the principal, um, the counselor if they're not teaching kids at that time, speech and special ed, and myself at the table. So we sit and now we not only talk about academic needs of students at each school once a month, we talk about those behavioral needs as well. So we're excited to hopefully continue our work and be the first to get the community builders award. >> Thank you, Miss Griffith. Thank you, Mr. Stroberger for the school report. Uh board members, any uh comments on our district update or our u our uh report from uh Miss Griffith. Yeah. Would like to uh commend you and Mr. Bumble for coming together and put putting
074that together and good luck on getting that uh next level of of recognition. All right. If uh if not then we'll uh go down to our next item on the agenda and that is uh sped bus uh risk mitigation ideas to consider. Uh spoke with uh reached out by uh Miss Karen Stafford asked to uh present to the board uh this uh this evening. uh she uh there was an uh situation that uh she experienced her her grandson experienced and uh she uh uh went through that but she wants to come back and just share some ideas uh to the board with the board on uh things to consider that uh may help uh mitigate risk of situation happening again. So, uh, Miss Stafford, if you would, uh, come to the podium, we have a
075microphone for you, and we will, uh, be, uh, glad to hear your your, uh, presentation. First of all, I'd like to say thank you all for letting me come up here. And I'm not very good at this, so I'm going to be real nervous and I'm very upset about still. My name is Karen Stafford and I'm the parent. I'm sorry of a nonverbal autistic kindergartener. And I'm here to speak about something that should never happen to any child, especially the vulnerable ones who can't speak for themselves. Recently, my child was forgotten on the bus and not discovered until the bus reached the busy yard after the morning rounds. On the surveillance footage, the driver was saying this. These were not her words, but these are the ones I'm going to use. Dang it, we forgot
076again. Well, those words are alarming. But what is more alarming is that I was never notified. Not by the transportation department, not by the school, not by any official. The only acknowledgement I received was a brief comment from my child's teacher later that morning. As a parent, this was the first time I realized anything had happened. Let me be clear. My child is nonverbal, autistic, and legally vulnerable. He is unable to speak. He is unable to ask for help. Unable to call out and unable to tell me what happened. What if something had gone wrong? Thank God it didn't. But he drove he was driven down 111 in the morning. What if the bus had been in a wreck? What if my child wandered off? What if he was harmed, assaulted, or kidnapped? And what
077if they simply panicked and no one was there to help? If if the school believed my child was in class and I believed my child was in school, then no one would have known where my child actually was. and this is unacceptable. The original bus driver has since been removed from her position. She still drives a bus, just not my just not Sanders bus. However, my child now has a new driver who is noticeably be noticeably harsh and abrupt. So much so that now my child refuses to get on the bus. When a child who once rode the bus without issue suddenly beca begins refusing, we must ask why. I need to say this clearly. There is no adequate protocols in place that were taken that day. [snorts] There should be a physical check or
078a clipboard verification that each student gets on the bus. Verification when each student gets off immediats on the bus for any amount of time. A written incident report automatically sent to the administration and the parents. Required accountability procedures for special needs students. [snorts] If a hospital can track every patient, a school system can track a handful of children getting on and off a bus. The district transports children with disabilities. Some non-verbal, some medically fragile, some unable to advocate for themselves. These are the exact children who require the highest level of protection. I'm not here to criticize anybody. I'm here to demand pol to demand policy change because children like mine don't have a voice and I will be that voice. I've been told I've been overreacting. >> [snorts] >> But there's no such thing as
079overreacting when your child is left alone on a bus and no one even tells you. So, I'm asking this board to create mandated transportation protocols, establish immediate parent contact requirements, implement documentation procedures for special needs riders, and provide additional training for drivers transporting disabled students. There has been a training. The bus attendant was let go. The driver was moved. Everything I asked for has been done and done quickly. But if it happened to my child, it will happen again, unfortunately, because people are people. [snorts] Our family and others like us deserve assurance that our children are safe the moment they step onto that bus till the moment they return home. Thank you for your time and I hope the board I can't even finish reading this agrees that the safety of all children must be
080non-negotiable. And all I'm ask all I'm asking for is just >> a piece of paper, a clipboard with their names on it, an I a tablet. Every kid in school's got a tablet. Let the bus driver have one for the special needs kids. These kids can't help it. They they have to be watched. They have to be taken care of. They're just vulnerable. They can't feel for themselves. That's why we're here. And I just can't I mean, my kids have ridden the bus for 40 years. I mean, these are my grandkids, but they've ridden the bus a long time, and I've never had an issue ever. But I've never had these kind of kids before. And it's very, as you can see, I'm very adamant about this because this is very important to me [snorts]
081because it should never have happened. And then when it happened, I should have been notified. And I wasn't. And that's what bothers me the most is because nobody called me. And I'm sitting there thinking, "Okay, it's Anderson at school." And he wasn't. He got in somebody's personal car, which as you all know, that's against every rule there is because I can't I'm a nurse. I can't transfer my patients. I have to know where my patients are at all times. You can't let these this let this can't just be swept under the rug. There's got to be something done. Just one thing, just one to, you know, to make me feel better about White County schools. I love White County schools. My kids, all my kids have went to White County schools and I love the
082school, but I can't let this go and not say anything. I just can't. >> Thank you all for letting me come here and blubber like a idiot. >> You're you're you're fine, Miss Stafford. Appre appreciate that very [clears throat] much. Um that's all >> we uh on behalf of the uh the board we uh do [snorts] deeply regret a situation that h that happened to your your uh grandson gr grandson that you that dear your your son. Yes. um is very very unfortunate and and do uh appreciate the the the the pain and and anxiousness that created for for you and your your family and appreciate the fact that in our conversations that you just wanted to u uh encourage uh us to to look revisit uh policies and procedures to see what ways we
083could mitigate risk uh for that happening again. Um as uh as director could speak and our transportation supervisor uh could could uh could also speak to um regarding uh uh all the safeguards to uh prevent a driver from leaving the bus um without going doing a physical walk to check to see if a student was left behind. Um those were all in place and uh this was uh this was human error uh on the standpoint of not checking at the school and uh we certainly would uh would would own that. Um the uh the thing that was uh very much out of our our control and appreciate the director the action he took on uh on the from a disciplinary standpoint but uh uh when a personnel personnel made very bad decision on how they
084tried to rectify the the situation and that was concerning. And I appreciate the fact that uh that the board uh or director uh took the steps he that he did because it you're correct uh uh policy is that uh if if in the event that a student was uh left on the bus, it would be the bus driver would take that student back not in the bus, not in a personal vehicle. And uh we're very it's very unfortunate. We're very sorry that that situation took place. Um the uh I can from a chairman standpoint um speak to the director uh and uh go back and look at what's in place now um and look and see if there's any areas for for improvement uh and how that might could take place. Uh we do feel
085like we have a very uh stringent uh and thorough policy in place. Um, but we're going to go back and revisit it because I think this situation merits that and so uh we can we we want to I think you're you're do that uh from that and I'll be asking the chair the director to uh work with supervisor just to come back go back and revisit those policies. That's my thought but I'm going to pause here and give uh other board members chance to to speak if they'd like. Mr. Chairman, I think you you verbalized it very well, but but yes, we're all uh very sorry that this happened and um again, applaud the director for taking the action that he did and and I understand that. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Um, any other board
086members have comment? Okay. Um, so Mr. Stafford, well, I appreciate your courage uh to come and speak to us tonight and you you you did well. Um and just uh know that as uh board, we hear hear your your concern and we will uh said we'll work with the director and and uh and and with him to see if go back and just revisit what's in place and see if if there's anything else that can be be done and hopefully we can have uh something on a on a on a small scale that makes a big impact. >> Yes. Yeah, thank you. We'll we'll uh we'll do that and I I would expect that uh you'll get a followup from from Mr. after they've had time to kind of review the the what's in place.
087Okay. So, all right. Thank you very very much. Okay. So, we'll move on in our agenda. Next item is uh public comment. Um there was no sign up for uh anybody wishing to speak uh comment on items for on the agenda tonight. So that moves us down to uh the next item and this is new business item. Uh board members, we were uh asked to um uh on a fundraising request um that there was conflict uh regarding a fundraising request by the uh tennis, track, and wrestling uh teams that uh to do an event that there was conflict with another organization that had fundraising approval. And so what they've done is they've asked to replace uh the uh their proposed fundraiser and I think it was a me a meal and auction uh fundraiser and
088they've asked that to be replaced substituted with a crowdfunding um uh app uh replacement for their their fundraiser. We have approved crowdfunding uh for uh for our teams to uh to raise funds in the past. So, this is not going to be a new uh fundraiser, but uh it will be a change in the approved fundraiser for the uh tennis track and wrestling team. So, that's uh what has been asked of us tonight. So, at this time, I would entertain a motion for approval for the uh change in uh fundraiser for uh track uh tennis and wrestling. >> I make a motion. >> All right. I have a motion by Miss Douglas to have a second. >> Second by Mr. Smith. Any further discussion? Okay. Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I.
089>> I. >> Opposed. Motion passes. Next item. We have one item on our old business. Um and board members as you're aware in the past uh we have uh discussed about the uh the uh uh our volunteer fire departments having uh having their facilities located on uh on school uh school school property. Um and so that has uh started the exercise of us going back and uh trying to do some investigating on ownership of property and how property is deed and uh we have uh we've asked included some of the some preliminary information was provided to you in your packets uh before tonight's meeting uh regarding Tennessee Property Viewer and how it's showing things listed. But we also asked uh Mr. Mark him to do some uh some work on helping us uh just go
090and uh with the registered deeds office to go and just confirm how property uh that we expect to be um considered part of the um uh the district um and exactly how that that property is deed and Mr. Markham has been working on that uh diligently but he not to uh not to uh that that has not been been finished. Um so uh however uh we have uh organizations specifically our Bondicoft um fire department that is uh looking to uh proceed with some some grant funding try to secure some grant funding for uh for their needs and doing uh some research. We've asked them to go and uh and confirm that they are entity rec recognized both at the uh the federal and state level um as a uh as a as a business entity
091legitimate business entity and uh they have they have done that um and so that was one hurdle that was was passed. The other is uh how can we uh help facilitate them and not be a hindrance in their ability to go and secure uh funding grant fundings and apply for that. Uh doing some research with uh with the uh county uh county uh executive and his office um that there are grants available that uh that they can assist with. But uh given the fact that they don't per se have anything in place officially for uh recognizing the uh condition of which pro the property that they want to enhance. Um that's the reason why we were approached about selling property but uh we're not at the point where we could uh we could act on
092that if as a board we wanted to choose to do that. Uh so we'll have the discussion on how uh how we might want to proceed. I would uh recommend the board for for some discussion that uh we consider uh having a lease agreement with uh with all the volunteer fire departments that uh whose facilities are on our property. Uh so that way we'd not be a hindrance to them if we're proceeding with whatever type of uh grants and fundings that uh they they're wishing to pursue. So I'll pause right now and board members give you a chance to uh to comment on that. Mr. Chairman, in looking at the file in our our packet, uh can you identify which of the school schools or properties that are deed to the board of education have
093a volunteer fire department as part of that property? >> Is that something >> Mr. Smith? That's a great great question, but it's going to take take just a second to go and and look that up. >> And Mr. D, if you can if you get there. >> I don't know the slide numbers, but it's that the properties are Cassville, Central View, and Bondraftoft. >> All right. Thank you. >> that that are deed to the White County Board of Education. Okay. Yes. Thank you. So, board members, I'm going to I'm going to make in form form of a a motion that u uh we proceed with drafting a lease uh that we enter in with all volunteer fire departments that have facilities on our property. Um going to uh make a motion that we proceed with
094uh uh having a le a 5-year lease drawn up uh by our uh director with coordination with uh our uh uh fiscal administrator, Mr. Markham. And uh so that way we would have have a document in place that we could enter in with these uh volunteer or organizations uh volunteer fire departments and uh giving them a u you know a a legal document uh stating the uh uh ownership of the property. Um and uh and also their uh their their right to uh to uh uh uh have that uh have their facility on on on those those grounds. So, I'd make my my motion for for clarity. My motion is that we enter into uh we enter enter into a five-year lease have a five-year lease drawn up to engage with all the volunteer fire
095departments that have property uh have their facilities on our property. That's my motion. Do I have a second? >> Second by Mr. Smith. Any discussion? >> One one item that that I was going to ask there before you got into your motion. um the property and Mr. Markhamm I know you've been working on this um the Quebec Community Center property and I know there's a long history there um would that be part of your motion as well Mr. Mr. uh chairman that that property be I mean since it's legally and on the property data says that it belongs to the Y County Board of Education um would that be part of your lease agreement as well or is that something that we need to rely on? >> You talking about the Quebec >> community the
096Quebec community? >> So that's uh that's one Mr. McDonald that uh is is part as I said Mr. Markham's doing uh deed research on these on all these properties. That's one that there's not clarity on. So, no, that is not part of my my motion. >> All right. Thank you. >> Any other any other uh questions or comments? >> Okay. Hearing none. Um all those sign >> Oh, oh, wait a minute. Sorry. What What kind of monetary uh value are you looking at on the 5-year lease? Is it a $1 lease or is it a 50 cent lease or is it a just a lease agreement between those fire departments and this board? >> Okay. My thoughts behind that that it's uh it's uh there there's no monetary exchange. Uh but uh I'm not sure
097that would fall to uh you know the from a from a lease standpoint. I'm not sure if there has to be a monetary amount, but if it was, I would I would uh recommend that it not be more than $1 for the five years. That would be 20 cents. That would be 20 cents a year. >> I would agree. >> And we can take donations for that. >> I'll pay it. >> Okay. Thank you. Right. So, so I have a motion and a second and we're in discussion. Any other discussions, board members, on how we're planning to proceed with uh uh with our volunteer fire department partners? >> How fast do you think we'll have this back or we we vote on this in January to to approve the agreement or >> um can we
098have that done? Yeah, we're going to we're going to uh we're going to charge that our director that we get that done so we can vote on this in January. vote on the specific lease. Right now, we're going to proceed. We're going to vote on how we're going to proceed and then in January, we come back and and have the actual agreements. >> Sounds great. >> Okay. Any other discussion? Okay. Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Motion passes. Next, that brings us to chairman's comments. like to uh remind you that our next school board meeting is January 8th uh 2026 here at the board of education will be spotlighting Do Elementary. Um board members like to uh and board meeting will be at 6:00 and we'll
099have our work session at 5. Uh board members like to remind you that this uh your statement of disclosures of interest uh that you have to file annually with the state, those are due by uh December 31st. Uh Mr. Strongburgger was kind enough to provide us all with a link to that uh to where we go and and make those disclosures. So, I'd like to encourage you to make sure you get that done by the 31st. And also, this is a special announcement. Um we'd like to recognize that today is Miss Sims birthday. And so, after we adjourn, we're going to sing happy birthday to Miss Sims. And Mr. McDonald's is going to lead that. We should have let our had our artist stay for that, but uh Miss Sims would say happy birthday to
100you. Uh so at this time, I'd entertain a motion for adjournment. Motion by Mr. McDonald. I have a second. >> Second by Miss Fowler. Any discussion? All in favor say I.