By Charlotte Underwood

JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- Campbell County School Board members approved the 2024 Local Education Agency Compliance Report.

According to Director of Schools Jennifer Fields, the district is “in compliance with everything, and the report will be submitted to the state this week.”

Also approved were several contract agreements, along with a revision to the BOE’s travel policies.

Copier contracts were approved for the LaFollette Middle School, as was a contract agreement between the Campbell County School District and Dara Kline, Ph.D for writing “behavior plans,” for students. Having a contract agreement with someone to write behavior plans is a requirement and is something that the school district does each year.

Under the consent agenda, several field trips were approved for students at multiple schools.

An addendum to the agenda asking the board to consider naming the “Elk Valley Elementary STEM Lab the Nancy Lay STEM Lab” was briefly discussed and then tabled.*

Board member Brandon Johnson said he “did not believe in naming anything after current employees” and that it would be different if the person was retired. Johnson clarified he had nothing against Nancy Lay, but that he felt it was not appropriate to name anything after current employees that it could create problems with fellow teachers.

This item was tabled till a later date.

In other business, the BOE attorney Dail Cantrell discussed a new state stature that says the board is responsible for developing a policy at each school pertaining to ensuring each school library has aged appropriate reading material for students.

Cantrell went over this stature, encouraged the board to research it and get started on it as the policy would need to be in effect by the end of this school year as required by law.

“Right now, all you have to do is enact a policy and do a general review to post every book in every library. When you do your policy, put thought into this and get with your librarians to work on this,” Cantrell said, adding that “it was going to be an intensive policy and would take a lot of work.”

Johnson asked out of curiosity what was the penalty if the school district did not do this.

“The ultimate penalty is the state would come in and do the policy for you, and my strongest recommendation would be to not do that,” Cantrell said.

He also very briefly discussed that the “Trammell case has made a settlement demand of $40,000” and recommended that the BOE vote no against engaging in any negotiations or settlements, which the board did. Former maintenance personnel employee Jimmy Trammell’s attorney filed the lawsuit in August seeking damages not to exceed $50,000, according to Trammell’s attorney Ameesh Kherani.

According to Cantrell, “the lawsuit has to do with the state plan versus the county plan.”

*PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Crystal Creekmore, 5th District School Board Member, did not attend Tuesday’s meeting due to health issues. However, she asked to express what she would have said had she been able to attend with regard to naming the “Elk Valley Elementary STEM Lab the Nancy Lay STEM Lab”.

“The entire teaching body at the school came to us and requested that happen as well as several community members. Nancy has worked tirelessly on that and her staff and others asked for it to be named in her honor,” said 5th District School Board Member Crystal Creekmore. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-12/11/2024-6AM-UPDATED 12/11/2024-8AM)

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