The Lakeland School Board (LSB) on Monday (10.4.17) reviewed nine resolutions and selected seven to endorse at the annual TSBA Leadership Conference and Convention Nov. 2-5 in Nashville.
The Tennessee School Board Association (TSBA) annually approves resolutions to present to the Tennessee General Assembly in January and lobbies for their passage. The local Board reviews the resolutions and decides which would favor or help the Lakeland School System (LSS).
All five Board members and Dr. Ted Horrell, LSS superintendent, will attend the TSBA conference. Wanda Terral, the district technology coordinator, will also attend as a presenter.
At the Monday meeting, Board Member Teresa Henry reviewed nine resolutions and Board members agreed that only seven of the nine were applicable to LSS.
The first offers appreciation to the outgoing TSBA president.
Number four: Allow school districts to sell surplus property via a variety of sources like internet auctions or public sale. Cited was the cost of newspaper advertising and a desire to utilize other sales outlets.
Number five: Lower the basic education program nurse-pupil ratio to one nurse for every 750 students to meet the needs of students and continue to bring teacher salaries in line with national average levels.
Number six: Urge the General Assembly to enact legislation to ensure students’ TNReady scores are returned to the system no later than two weeks after the date of submission.
Number seven: Amend the BEP (Basic Education Program) formula to include funding for Response to Instruction and Intervention positions within school districts. This impacts students with learning problems and funds to hire additional teachers. This is the funding formula through which the State funds K-12 education.
Number eight: Enact legislation exempting out-of-state teachers from a requirement to take an assessment to receive a permanent Tennessee teaching license. This would be for teachers from states which have a reciprocity agreement with Tennessee and the teacher has a high overall effective level during their first three years as a Tennessee teacher.
Number nine: Urge Congress to change the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to explicitly include student data maintained in electronic media and exclude address, telephone listing and date and place of birth from the definition of director information. Additionally, parental permission would be required before releasing directory information in all cases.
The two resolutions not endorsed by LSB involve State ACT/SAT accountability measures and weighting of high school advanced placement, dual enrollment and honors courses in the calculation of grade point averages. LSB noted the City does not have a high school. Thus the resolutions would not affect LSS.
