A bunch of you’ns are on Summer Vacation, a few thousand of you just finished Reading Intervention Camps for your rising fourth graders, thanks to the State Legislature. A House member that was against school choice/vouchers before a 45 minute porch conversion when he then miraculously became for ’em. But I digress.
Thursday June 29th the School Board Agenda came out. School Board Work Session was last night, Monday July 10 and the Voting Meeting is Thursday July 13 at 5 pm.
There are two topics worth talking about, first Seventh District School Board Member Steve Triplett after having served since September 1, 2022 thinks a Work Session and Voting Session is a waste of time. Triplett said that sometimes there is no discussion or repeated discussion on items on the agenda. He thinks it would be a more effective use of their time to have only one meeting.
Now, the School Board members got a 5% salary raise on July 1, making $26,569 and receiving an additional $3,900 in travel for a combined yearly salary of $30,469 a year. if they only have one meeting a month. They would be paid the equivalent of $2,539.08 a meeting. It’s good work if you can win the election.
Now, Board Member Susan Horn is pushing a release time policy. Likely similar to Campbell County Christian Learning Center although Horn is being tight lipped about the entity she is talking too. On the board of CCCLC has a former Campbell County School Board Member. Now, one could conspire to think that Horn who is not running for reelection in March and August 2024 could be angling for leadership position with a Knox County chapter. Horn has worked in Christian Education with a Farragut area congregation. Of course this is just conspiracy theories that are not founded in any fact.
Horn talked last night about parent choice and she is right thousands of parents choose Christian Academy of Knoxville, Catholic High and other similar Religious and Academic based schools instead of Knox County’s Public Schools.
Farragut, Bearden, Hardin Valley parents consider their schools to be prestigious or top tier schools.
Many students in these schools take AP (Advanced Placement) and Honors classes and achieve maximum GPA (Grade Point Average)
When students at these schools opt for a release time class, with 8 hours of credit for courses that have NO standards, no certified staff, and no oversight, it will devalue the GPA of the top-tier students and schools for the whole district, in my opinion.
