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Superintendent Evaluation and Cell Phone Free Schools

The board met for their May Work Session last Thursday

And their regular voting meeting Monday night.

There were three main topics discussed this month.

  1. Jason Golden's evaluation
  2. Giving students and parents access to graded tests and quizzes
  3. How to limit devices like cell phones from educational settings.

Superintendent Evaluation

When Mr. Golden was hired, it was on a 4-year contract. Each June since then, the board has voted to extend his contract by one year, which has kept his deal perpetually with 4 years on it.

Each June has also brought the board's annual evaluation of the superintendent. I'm going to go into a deeper dive on these next month, but the most interesting difference this year is the fact that Mr. Golden did not ask for an extension, so there was no board vote.

His given reason was the fact that half of the board has only worked with him for a few months, so he wanted to spend more time working with them before asking for an extension.

He was clear that this was not an indication that he is leaving. He will be asking for an extension, just not right now.

Tests and Quizzes

This is a new policy that basically states that the default action should be that a teacher returns tests and quizzes to students after they are graded. There is an exception for when test security concerns justify restricting access. But this should enhance transparency.

Cell Phone Free Schools

There is a new TN law that requires public schools to adopt a policy that limits cell phone use during educational time. The extent of that limitation is up to each district. Our board was divided on whether to disallow cell phone possession from "bell to bell" or if students could keep them and just not use them.

Claire Reeves led a group advocating for the "bell to bell" policy, joined by Tonja Hibma, Donna Clements, and Jay Galbreath. The idea here would be that cell phones would be stored in a secure locker (or something like that) as soon as the student enters the building and returned at the end of the day.

Ultimately, that effort failed and the board adopted a policy that wireless communication devices must be "silenced and not used during the school day." But the student may remain in possession of them. This includes devices like watches, cell phones, laptops, tablets, and gaming devices. There is a carveout for high school lunchtime. Cell phones will be allowed then.

The main reason for not wanting to go "bell to bell" is the difficulty in implementation. It seemed like every board member wants to get to that policy and the board probably will get there eventually. But it was going to be such a big chance, they felt that it would be burdensome to the administrators to go all the way too quickly.

Next Meeting

Because of a timing issue with getting the approved budget from the county commission, the board will have a special meeting this Friday to approve the updated budget. It should be very short.

The board does not meet in July, so the next regular meeting will be Monday, August 18, 2025.