BOE fails to rescind differentiated pay plan

By Charlotte Underwood

JACKSBORO, TN. (WLAF)- A motion to rescind a differentiated pay plan that was approved last month for the principal of the alternative school to receive an additional $10,000 in pay, failed at Monday’s School Board meeting.

When School Board Chairman Jeffrey Miller brought the agenda item up, Brandon Johnson spoke up immediately saying that he was “incredibly, incredibly against” rescinding what the board had approved at its September meeting.

School Board member Ryne Cummins made the motion for the rescindment, opening the item up for discussion. Johnson said he felt “the time to discuss this and hash this out was last month.”

“If you are on this board and you didn’t realize what you were voting on or you didn’t bring up discussion on it, I think it is very, very bad precedent for us as a board to approve something one month and let a series of employees think they are getting compensated for a job, execute portions of that job and then come back the next month and say, no, we’re just kidding, you are not getting that money…we should have discussed this last month and I am really concerned about the precedent that this will have on this board and I am very strongly against this and I encourage the rest of this board to vote against this as well,” Johnson said.

BOE member Jamie Wheeler took the opposite stance and said she felt those differentiated pay funds should be spent differently.

“Looking at the amount of money we have set aside (for differentiated pay) is a little over $20,000 and $10,000 of it is going to one person and I look at that and that job, as far as looking at data analysis from both high schools should probably fall on secondary supervisor to work with those principals with that data. We’re looking at some with the alternative school wanting to send four teachers from the high school during their planning time, two days a week, to the alternative school to teach Algebra 1, Algebra 2 math, Geometry and Biology and that could be used for those positions that those teachers could get extra pay. We have a lot of teachers in Campbell County that go above and beyond every single day and they are level 4 and level 5 teachers and a lot of times those people are not recognized. And I know, when I was a principal, you rely on teachers, they don’t get compensated for what they do and that’s what I am wanting to do” Wheeler said.

BOE member Randy Heatherly said he understood her position, but that he planned to vote no on rescinding the differentiated pay.

“There are four other people affected by this and they are also going above and beyond as well. They are doing duties outside their normal job,” Heatherly said.

“I am not saying they aren’t. I am just saying that is a lot to put into one position, when you take half of the allotted differentiated pay and give it to once person,” Wheeler said.

BOE member Brent Lester said it had already been voted on to do it.

“This should have been caught before we voted on it the first time,” Lester said.

Heatherly echoed that and said it was what the director had recommended.

“The reason this was put in place is it aligned with our district improvement strategic plan, and we had done this in the past, when we paid a person part-time at Campbell County High School a few years ago, they received a $3,000 differentiated pay to work at just Campbell County High School. This is to do the data for three schools East LaFollette Learning Academy (ELLA), Campbell County High School and Jellico High School. This was submitted at the deadline for differentiated pay, so I don’t know if we can modify that. Maybe we can, I don’t know if I have missed the deadline,” Director Fields said.

When put to a vote, the motion to rescind Alternative School Principal Daniel Sexton’s differentiated pay failed.

Board members voting no to rescind the differentiated pay included Lisa Fields, Randy Heatherly, Brandon Johnson, Ronnie Lasley, Brent Lester, Sharon Ridenour,

BOE members voting yes to rescind the differentiated pay included Crystal Creekmore, Ryne Cummins, Jamie Wheeler.

BOE Chairman Jeffrey Miller abstained to vote. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED 10/22/2025-6AM)