After one year of not serving as School Board Chair, Don Long has been re-elected to the role. Andy Daniels will now be the Board's Vice-Chair. Long and Daniels replace Ted Wise and Beth Cox, who held the Chair and Vice Chair roles this past year.
Long led the search for Sumner's current Director of Schools, Del Phillips. Last year, Wise and Cox were chosen to lead the Board for a year.
Long and Daniels are both up for re-election in 2014.
Showing posts with label Ted Wise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ted Wise. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
School Board to Vote on Insurance Tonight
The Sumner County School Board will meet tonight at 6PM at the Board Office in Gallatin. Among the agenda items is discussion and a vote on moving to a new, locally managed insurance plan for all employees. If accepted, certified employees (teachers) would move to the new plan in January 2014. Enrollment in the new plan would begin in October. The agenda also includes a vote to separate classified employees from the current County-managed insurance trust to the new trust managed by the School Board by way of its appointed Trustees. It is expected the Board will vote to separate and move all employees to the new trust by January 2015.
Teachers approved the new plan in a vote held last week.
The School Board's consultants (Arista Consulting Group) have indicated that the Board will realize significant savings -- enough to continue covering a minimum of 45% of health insurance for retired teachers despite the loss of a state subsidy that currently covers those teachers. Teachers who retire before age 65 with at least 30 years of service are guaranteed that 45% of their health insurance cost will be paid by the state until they reach age 65. That's because teachers are currently covered under the state plan. According to the numbers provided by the consultants and Sumner's recent claims experience, it seems likely that significant savings will be realized.
Another agenda item is the election of a Board Chair and Vice Chair - currently, those positions are filled by Ted Wise and Beth Cox.
Teachers approved the new plan in a vote held last week.
The School Board's consultants (Arista Consulting Group) have indicated that the Board will realize significant savings -- enough to continue covering a minimum of 45% of health insurance for retired teachers despite the loss of a state subsidy that currently covers those teachers. Teachers who retire before age 65 with at least 30 years of service are guaranteed that 45% of their health insurance cost will be paid by the state until they reach age 65. That's because teachers are currently covered under the state plan. According to the numbers provided by the consultants and Sumner's recent claims experience, it seems likely that significant savings will be realized.
Another agenda item is the election of a Board Chair and Vice Chair - currently, those positions are filled by Ted Wise and Beth Cox.
Friday, March 1, 2013
School Safety Committee Recommends SROs
Last night, the Ad Hoc Committee on School Safety met to discuss possible options for improving school safety in Sumner County Schools.
The committee recommended adding 13 School Resource Officers (SROs) to the schools by spring of 2014 -- they can't be deployed earlier because the committee is reluctant to recommend using reserve funds to cover start-up costs and because the training takes 10 or more weeks from the date of hire. The plan is a five year plan to deploy SROs at all schools in the district.
The Committee heard information regarding a request for funds from the School Board to upgrade school buildings to provide additional security. This would be a one-time cost to address needs identified during a currently on-going assessment of the system's schools.
At one point during the meeting, Chair and County Commissioner Jim Vaughn said the committee couldn't act on concrete recommendations because none had been submitted by the School Board. This in spite of a December letter from Dr. Del Phillips and County Executive Anthony Holt requesting one-time money to address school safety. The amount of the request was $5 million.
School Board Chair Ted Wise, present despite his recent resignation from the committee, read a letter from the School Board dated January 9th and addressed to County Executive Holt and County Commission Chair Hyde. The letter requested immediate action on a proposal to provide an SRO in every school and allocate one-time money for building upgrades to enhance school safety.
Following that January 9th request, Commissioners in a budget committee meeting requested that the issue be deferred until a committee chaired by Vaughn could further study the issue. The Ad Hoc Committee was later appointed and Vaughn named the Chair. The first meeting was last night - a full 50 days following the Board's request and 70 days after Dr. Phillips and County Executive Holt asked the Commission to act.
Safe and Drug Free Schools Coordinator Pat Conner asked that the Committee or County Commission give some budget guidance. She said the assessment of facilities will show areas needing upgrade/improvement but the solutions will vary in cost. She asked for $3 million to be allocated for school security upgrades. The Committee indicated that no money was currently available (they won't spend reserves) and that until they saw clear recommendations, they didn't want to discuss funding.
County Commissioner Frank Freels, present though not a committee member, spoke and suggested that Sumner County is being pushed into doing something and that counties as close by as Trousdale were doing nothing and that was just fine.
Commissioner Jerry Stone noted that he was unsure where the money would come from -- and it is Stone who now chairs the County Commission Budget Committee.
County Commissioner and former Hendersonville High School principal Paul Decker noted that the SRO program was excellent and he supported expanding it to more schools in Sumner County.
School Board member and former Portland High principal Glen Gregory said that new graduates looking to enter the teaching field will look for schools that are safe.
Danny Hurst, who manages the SRO program, noted that safe schools are key to economic development. He noted that families moving to middle Tennessee will look for school systems with solid school safety plans.
The Committee's next meeting will be on March 28th -- A Thursday during the week of the school system's Spring Break and just before Good Friday.
The committee recommended adding 13 School Resource Officers (SROs) to the schools by spring of 2014 -- they can't be deployed earlier because the committee is reluctant to recommend using reserve funds to cover start-up costs and because the training takes 10 or more weeks from the date of hire. The plan is a five year plan to deploy SROs at all schools in the district.
The Committee heard information regarding a request for funds from the School Board to upgrade school buildings to provide additional security. This would be a one-time cost to address needs identified during a currently on-going assessment of the system's schools.
At one point during the meeting, Chair and County Commissioner Jim Vaughn said the committee couldn't act on concrete recommendations because none had been submitted by the School Board. This in spite of a December letter from Dr. Del Phillips and County Executive Anthony Holt requesting one-time money to address school safety. The amount of the request was $5 million.
School Board Chair Ted Wise, present despite his recent resignation from the committee, read a letter from the School Board dated January 9th and addressed to County Executive Holt and County Commission Chair Hyde. The letter requested immediate action on a proposal to provide an SRO in every school and allocate one-time money for building upgrades to enhance school safety.
Following that January 9th request, Commissioners in a budget committee meeting requested that the issue be deferred until a committee chaired by Vaughn could further study the issue. The Ad Hoc Committee was later appointed and Vaughn named the Chair. The first meeting was last night - a full 50 days following the Board's request and 70 days after Dr. Phillips and County Executive Holt asked the Commission to act.
Safe and Drug Free Schools Coordinator Pat Conner asked that the Committee or County Commission give some budget guidance. She said the assessment of facilities will show areas needing upgrade/improvement but the solutions will vary in cost. She asked for $3 million to be allocated for school security upgrades. The Committee indicated that no money was currently available (they won't spend reserves) and that until they saw clear recommendations, they didn't want to discuss funding.
County Commissioner Frank Freels, present though not a committee member, spoke and suggested that Sumner County is being pushed into doing something and that counties as close by as Trousdale were doing nothing and that was just fine.
Commissioner Jerry Stone noted that he was unsure where the money would come from -- and it is Stone who now chairs the County Commission Budget Committee.
County Commissioner and former Hendersonville High School principal Paul Decker noted that the SRO program was excellent and he supported expanding it to more schools in Sumner County.
School Board member and former Portland High principal Glen Gregory said that new graduates looking to enter the teaching field will look for schools that are safe.
Danny Hurst, who manages the SRO program, noted that safe schools are key to economic development. He noted that families moving to middle Tennessee will look for school systems with solid school safety plans.
The Committee's next meeting will be on March 28th -- A Thursday during the week of the school system's Spring Break and just before Good Friday.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Wise Resigns from Safety Committee
Sumner County School Board Chair Ted Wise announced at last night's Board meeting he is resigning from the Sumner County Commission's Ad Hoc Committee on School Safety.
Perhaps Wise's resignation comes as a result of pressure placed on him by Board members Don Long and Tim Brewer at a recent Board study session.
The move comes as the Committee has scheduled its first meeting for February 28th.
That meeting will occur AFTER the County Commission meets on Feb. 25th -- thus, making it impossible for the Committee's recommendations to be considered by the full Commission until March -- possibly at the March 18th County Commission meeting.
It is not clear what motivated Wise to step down. And the full agenda for the Ad Hoc Committee's Feb. 28th meeting has not yet been announced.
Will they take up the School Board's proposal for improvements to school buildings and additional SROs? What research is being done by the Committee on current school safety procedures? Will they make recommendations in time for the March 18th Commission meeting? Will the School Board adopt any of the recommendations? Will funding for school safety result in losing teachers and/or other staff in the 2013-14 school year? Stay tuned ...
Perhaps Wise's resignation comes as a result of pressure placed on him by Board members Don Long and Tim Brewer at a recent Board study session.
The move comes as the Committee has scheduled its first meeting for February 28th.
That meeting will occur AFTER the County Commission meets on Feb. 25th -- thus, making it impossible for the Committee's recommendations to be considered by the full Commission until March -- possibly at the March 18th County Commission meeting.
It is not clear what motivated Wise to step down. And the full agenda for the Ad Hoc Committee's Feb. 28th meeting has not yet been announced.
Will they take up the School Board's proposal for improvements to school buildings and additional SROs? What research is being done by the Committee on current school safety procedures? Will they make recommendations in time for the March 18th Commission meeting? Will the School Board adopt any of the recommendations? Will funding for school safety result in losing teachers and/or other staff in the 2013-14 school year? Stay tuned ...
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