Macon Board of Education Recognizes Jimmy Cook
By Mark Darnell
The Macon County Board of Education recognized the late Mr. Jimmy Cook, a longtime educator and board member, at their January 13th meeting at the school board complex.
The regular scheduled monthly meeting began with a prayer and pledge of allegiance. The motion was made by Case and seconded by Hix to approve the board agenda as presented and the motion was approved.
In the consent agenda there were four leave requests presented and two trip requests from the RBS FFA for trips. A motion was made by Marsh and seconded by Case for these requests and to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Motion was approved.
In old business,
A motion was made by Case and seconded by Hix to approve a revision in the 4.603 Promotion and Retention Policy which was recommended by the Tennessee School Board Association. Motion approved.
A motion was made by Case and seconded by Hix to approve a contract to purchase property adjacent to Westside School. The approximate 1.14A will give the school some options to expand as it is now landlocked. Motion was passed on a 5-0 roll call vote.
Two motions were made by Marsh and seconded by Case to allow the Director of Schools, Mr. Boles, to allow Upland Design group to proceed with the RBS Gym project and allow Cope Architecture to submit MCHS addition drawings to the fire marshal. Both motions passed.
Mr. Case made a motion to accept option two recommended by the Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) as it pertains to the Red Boiling Springs campus. This option will allow the school to operate in the next three to five years and continue to allow those educational opportunities for Macon County students. The motion was made with the condition that the MCBE take steps in that time to bring those vocational educational opportunities to an on-site Macon County School. Motion passed.
A motion was made by Case and seconded by Hix to approve the updated building design for the new elementary school and for Upland Design to begin schematic designs. Motion passed.
With the recent change in the CDC guidelines for dealing with Covig-19 the board addressed changing their protocols. A motion was made by Case and seconded by Borders to accept the new CDC guidelines in dealing with Covid-19 but to make the mask mandate a recommendation rather than a mandate in the board’s protocols. Mr. Goad, MCBOE Chairman, also took the time to ask the opinions of the principals of various schools their opinions about the matter. On a roll call vote the motion passed 3-2 with votes for from Case, Borders, and Goad and dissenting votes from Marsh and Hix.
In new business:
The first item of new business on the agenda was a resolution to honor Mr. Jimmy Cook. Mr. Cook was a longtime educator at RBS High School and also served as a school board member for 12 years following his retirement. On hand for the recognition was his wife Janie Cook and she spoke to the group about Mr. Cook’s love for RBSHS and all the children in Macon County.
A motion was made by Case and seconded by Marsh to make the procedural move of approximately $65K in the board budget in order to make the property purchase at Westside School. Motion passed on a 5-0 roll call vote.
The school system takes bids for the maintenance and upkeep of all grounds in the system. Motion made by Case and seconded by Borders was to allow the system to take bids again for the coming year for that purpose. Motion passed.
A motion was made by Marsh and seconded by Case to approve to advertise for bids for musical instruments for the MCHS Band from Esser 2.0 and 3.0 funding. Motion approved.
A motion was made to approve advertising for bids for the MCHS Auditorium sound system upgrade from Esser 1.0 funds by Case and seconded by Hix. The motion passed.
Mr. Marsh made a motion which was seconded by Hix to approve accepting bids for the purchase and installation of the RBSHS football scoreboard. Motion approved.
In the last item of new business Mr. Hix made a motion to affirm the Director of Schools decision regarding a grievance from an employee of the school system that was seconded by Borders. The motion passed on a 4-0 roll call vote with Mr. Marsh abstaining from the vote.
After next month’s meetings for were set for Feb 3rd as the work session and Feb 10th for the regular meeting, a motion was made by Marsh and seconded by Case to adjourn. Motion passed.
