School Board Enthusiasts Blog: September 19 Quarterly Session

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The UnifiEd Student Voice Team's School Board Blog

This meeting was probably one of the least divisive school board meetings that I have ever seen. Throughout the entirety of the meeting the conversation was focused on improvements, progress, and goals for our school system. The most divisive part of the evening was...

the conversation as to when the school board wanted to pursue continuing Dr. Johnson’s contract (either early or when his contract says that they should). This was very encouraging and made for a much more interesting meeting than I (Carson) am used to. I would like to say congratulations to all of the reward schools recognized at the meeting and to Joe Wingate and Joe Smith for their election as Chairman and Vice Chair of the board, respectively.

Future Ready Update
This meeting’s Future Ready Update was around the goals of the recently created Office of Innovation and Choice. This office seemed extremely promising and seemed like it would be carrying out the actions to make many of the goals of the board into a reality. One of the most interesting things pointed out during this presentation is that Hamilton County is a world-wide leader in digital fabrication labs. We have the highest concentration of them anywhere, and we are still expanding.

For those that don’t know, the future ready program allows students to experience a job and obtain a work-based learning experience as well. This is something that benefits all students from ninth through twelfth grade. They are helping students to understand other options after high school other than the military and college, which seems to be a huge concern for students who feel that those are their only options. At each meeting there is an update about a different aspect of this program, from different improvements throughout the county to different steps that will be taken in the future.

Consent Agenda
Some of the most promising things in this meeting were within the consent agenda and were pulled by the board members. All of these items were approved.  

• Sale Creek High School finally received funding to create a football stadium complete with bleachers, bathrooms, changing rooms, concessions, etc. I am so happy for the students, families, and community of Sale Creek. That being said, Rhonda Thurman’s comment that this was one of the biggest inequities within Hamilton County was surprising considering the vast amount of inequities within the county.
  
• Jenny Hill noted that prices were very unequal and very high for eighth grade Washington, DC trips. All school board members wanted to see changes come to these field trips to make them more equitable and more accessible to students. We also hope that they will work on making other extracurricular trips more accessible such as trips for Career and Technical Student Organizations (like FBLA, HOSA, TSA, and more), Model UN, and Youth in Government, all of which are extremely beneficial and typically very expensive.
  
• High School students will now be able to charge up to $40 dollars to their lunch account. Previously, students were being sent away and their lunches taken away if they did not have money in their accounts. Not all students are guaranteed a meal everyday. I don’t think that they should be not only embarrassed, but rejected, in the lunch line just to get some food in their system.
  

Overall Thoughts
This meeting was very promising, fun, and interesting. Seeing the board come together with common goals was truly encouraging and made this one of my favorite meetings I’ve seen. We made it through a school board without a major fight, and that deserves some praise. Other things that deserve praise are all of the wonderful Department of Education employees that make the progress we see at each meeting possible.