JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF) – The Board of Education met Monday afternoon at the Central Office to review evaluations of Director Jennifer Fields’ first year on the job. As expected, the board members had nothing but praise as the nine board members who filled out evaluations gave Fields a score of 2.72 out of a possible 3.0.“This is a good indication of the success we’ve seen,” Faye Heatherly noted. Fields ran down a list of some of the progress made on the non-academic side, from adding $300,000 in improvements to Jellico Elementary to now having a nurse in every school and a partnership with LaFollette Medical Center for a governing medical physician. Fields was also recognized by the state’s association of school directors.
“I’m looking forward to releasing the test scores tomorrow (Tuesday),” Fields added, noting that the State Board of Education has informed school systems of the results of the statewide achievement tests but embargoed public release of those results until 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday (today).
“The academic results will add to our success,” Heatherly confidently predicted.
Fields added that the state divides test scores into three different levels. “Last year we were ranked as ‘In need of improvement,’” Fields said. “We have improved.”
“I’ll still have to see better information on that question,” Josh James commented (CORRECTION Jeffrey Miller commented), “I want to see what was down, what needs improvement, where we are. I want to see the data.” James (CORRECTION Miller) added he was not prepared to vote until he sees the academic results.
Heatherly then made a motion to approve the evaluation with the exception of the 25-percent represented by academic scores. The vote on extending the Director’s contract will be held at the regular meeting on Tuesday. The board also agreed that Fields’ new contract will be changed to set the evaluation period in February instead of August. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 08/13/2019-11AM)
