| UC school board bids farewell to member, student representative | | Posted: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 6:23 am
| 
Luke Searcy gave a brief report on his attendance at the recent Student Congress on Policies in Education in Nashville. | | | By KEVIN BOWDEN
Staff Reporter
It was a night of farewells for the Union City School Board.
Board member Campbell Rice attended his final school board meeting Monday night before his planned move to Virginia in a few weeks and student board member Morgan Stone attended her final meeting before she leaves for Belmont University in the fall.
As the 2011-12 school year winds down to its final few days, Monday night’s school board session was spent taking care of a few year-end matters.
The board unanimously approved a new seven-page contract for Director of Schools Gary Houston. The contract constitutes a renewal of Houston’s employment to 2016 and includes a 2.5 percent pay raise. Under the new contract, the board has continued its tradition of allowing Houston to set his own goals for the coming school year.
Three specific goals were identified at Monday night’s meeting — providing continued quality professional development for teachers, expanding the use of iPads in the classroom and having principals serve as “building-level instructional leaders.” That role will involve training principals in new teacher evaluations.
Board chairman Glenda Caudle announced she and the rest of the board are “very happy” with Hous-ton’s job performance.
The board has been working the past few weeks on Houston’s annual job evaluation, and the results of that evaluation were good news for the schools’ director.
“We are very, very pleased,” Mrs. Caudle said. She went on to say there is a “great deal of satisfaction for the job being done. … it’s been an outstanding year.”
In response, Houston said, “I appreciate the confidence you’ve expressed.”
Also at Monday night’s nearly half-hour long meeting, the school board was given a brief report from Union City High School student Luke Searcy on his attendance at the recent Student Congress on Policies in Education in Nashville. Searcy was one of four UCHS students to attend the March conference, which provided students a chance to research, discuss and debate such issues as social media websites, bullying and the use of technology in the classroom.
Searcy, who was joined at the conference by fellow students Matthew Adams, Caleb Long and Joseph Shanks, said he enjoyed the experience. The other three students were unable to attend Monday night’s meeting due to being involved in spring sports.
Chaperone Brian Conner joined Searcy at the school board meeting and said he was very impressed by the conference. He described the conference as a “worthwhile endeavor.”
In other action Monday night, the school board:
• Was given an update on several year-end personnel moves. Rene Flood has been reassigned as vice principal at Union City Elementary School, Michele Huffstutter has been reassigned as a teacher at Union City Middle School and Shane Sisco has been named vice principal at UCMS.
• Was given a very positive report from Houston on several recent events held in the school system, including the recent UCES musical “Road Trip,” the UCES block party, Rotary Relays and the track regionals hosted by UCHS, and the recent Top Ten Banquet. Houston also reported on the success of the tennis, softball and baseball programs at UCHS this spring.
In a related announcement, Houston informed the school board two new sports programs will be added at the high school in the next school year — volleyball for girls and soccer.
Houston said there has been “overwhelming demand” for the two sports and said “we look forward to that taking place.”
• Was informed Tennessee First Lady Chrissy Haslam was scheduled to make a return trip to UCES today. She was scheduled to visit the school at noon today and was going to be reading to third-graders at the school as part of her visit.
• Approved a $13,200 bid from Lanzer Printing and Office Supply Co. for 400 cases of duplicating paper and a $89,430 bid from Federal Equipment Dealers for three double ovens. Both items were purchased for use in the upcoming school year.
Prior to the start of Monday’s meeting, Mrs. Caudle led a prayer and after the meeting started Miss Stone led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Staff Reporter Kevin Bowden may be contacted by email at kmbowden@ucmessenger.com.
Published in The Messenger 5.15.12 | | | | |
