Macon School Board Gets News of Athletic Facilities
By Mark Darnell
The Macon County Board of Education met for their monthly meeting this past Thursday August 14th at 6 pm at the Central Office.
Chairman Dale Hix called the meeting to order. Jared Claiborne led the prayer and Tim Case led the pledge.
The state has suggested that districts add a student to their local Boards. Director Carter introduced Collin Morgan, who will be a non-voting non-paid student representative of the body.
A motion was made by Wayne Marsh and seconded by Case to approve the Board agenda as presented. Motion carried.
In the consent agenda there were no changes to the minutes of the previous meeting. There were three personnel leave requests and a multitude of trip requests throughout the coming year. A motion was made by Case and seconded by Marsh to approve the consent agenda and the motion passed.
There were no new positions to post. In the appearance requests RBS Principal Don Jones thanked the Board for the paving done at his school and said that it looked great.
There were no public comments.
In old business:
The Board discussed the bleacher project at Red Boiling Springs. At the work session it was discussed to renovate the visitor’s bleachers at the RBS football field and bid out demolition, pad construction, and purchase of metal bleachers on the visitor’s side of the stadium. Two bids were received. A motion was made by Marsh and seconded by Case to approve the bid from Crowder Construction and to waive the informality for this project. Motion passed on a 5-0 roll call vote.
The Board then heard from Jared Claiborne from Mid-Tenn Engineering about the inspection of Pat Parker Field. Each year the stadium is inspected for safety purposes and certified safe for occupation and use. The previous engineer has retired so a new one had to be contacted from Nashville.
This inspection was done at Pat Parker Field on Aug 15th and the Engineer effectively condemned part of the home side bleachers from the 45 yard line nearest Meador Drive to the 35 yard line toward the scoreboard. This would effectively eliminate approximately 500 home side seats.
Claiborne also reminded the Board that his firm had made suggestions as far back as 20 years ago for remediation of the entire stadium that were not acted upon. Mid-Tenn made a ‘temporary’ fix approximately 12 years ago which was only supposed to last for 10 years.
The Board then discussed getting some temporary bleachers, like was used for the playoff game last year, and roping off some of the visitor’s side seating for home fans.
Once again Mid-Tenn and Claiborne indicated that the situation for the approximately 70 year old facility was only going to get worse, not better, moving forward. He also said he checked on getting bleachers at Pat Parker, like for the RBS stadium, and the company he checked with said there would be an approximate eight to ten month lead time to get them from when they were ordered.
This will be a continuously changing situation. The public is asked, for their safety, to please respect any and all roped off sections at Pat Parker Memorial Stadium.
The Board took no further action pending gathering more information for options.
The Engineer also inspected the RBS Stadium. With the visitors project underway he didn’t recommend any action there. He did have some corrective actions for the home seating involving weather proofing but indicated they would be OK if carried out.
A motion was made by Case and seconded by Marsh to approve six additional students for early graduation for the 25-26 SY. Motion passed.
In new business:
A motion was made by Case and seconded by Marsh to approve the Education Capital Budget for the 25-26 SY. This must be done to allow moving funds for the new school construction. Motion passed on a 5-0 roll call vote.
A scholarship had been established honoring an educator at RBS named Charlie Windell. A motion was made to approve a budget of $250 annually for a scholarship and $500 was to be taken out this year for a scholarship in 2025 and 2026. Motion passed on a 5-0 roll call vote.
Money from excess grants and new grants must be accounted for in the budget. A motion was made by Marsh and seconded by Case to approve amendment #1 for the General Purpose Budget for this purpose. Motion passed on a 5-0 roll call vote.
A motion was made by Marsh and seconded by Case to approve to purchase two regular busses with air conditioning and one SPED bus. Director Carter indicated that the money was in the budget to make this purchase, $149K for the SPED and $165K each for the regular busses. Motion passed on a 5-0 roll call vote.
A motion was made by Case and seconded by Michael Cothron to create a Kindness Club at Lafayette Elementary School. Motion passed.
Director Carter asked the Board to approve the Differentiated Pay Plan. This money covers paying teachers that teach a class during their scheduled planning periods. Motion made by Case and seconded by Marsh which passed on a 5-0 roll call vote.
Every year the Board must approve a Save Act assurance. Motion made by Case and seconded by Marsh and approved.
A motion was made by Case and seconded by Marsh to approve a new copier lease at Macon County High School. Motion passed on a 5-0 roll call vote.
A motion was made by Case and seconded by Marsh to approve the MOU between the Board and the Sheriff’s Office for one SRO. Currently eight positions are paid for from a state grant and the Board pays for a ninth one. Motion passed on a 5-0 roll call vote.
Each year a Student Disciplinary Hearing Authority must be established. A motion was made by Case and seconded by Marsh to establish this group suggested by Director Carter. Motion passed.
Also each year a committee must be established for the sick leave bank. A motion was made by Case and seconded by Marsh to approve and the motion passed.
Director Carter then stated that a revision needed to be made to Policy 6.301 Code of Behavior (K-5). Motion was made by Case and seconded by Marsh to approve. Motion passed.
The state also wanted districts to adopt a new policy for Pre-K students. A motion was made by Case and seconded by Marsh to adopt Policy 6.302 Pre-K Behavior Management. Motion passed.
A motion was made by Case and seconded by Marsh to approve to donate an assistant coaching supplement for the RBS softball program, back to the program at the coach’s request. Motion passed.
A motion was made by Marsh and seconded by Case to approve annual donations to athletic programs who must maintain outdoor facilities. Eleven thousand will go to both high school football programs, three thousand to both high school baseball and softball programs, MCHS soccer, and MCJHS baseball programs, and one thousand to the MCHS Track/Cross Country program. Motion passed on a 5-0 roll call vote.
A motion was made by Marsh and seconded by Case to approve to advertise for bids for renovations to the greenhouse at Macon County High School. Motion passed.
The next work session was scheduled for Monday September 8th and the regular meeting was scheduled for Thursday September 11th. Both meetings to take place at 6 pm at the Central Office.
A motion was made by Cothron and seconded by Case to adjourn. Motion passed.
