Four candidates will interview for the Haywood County Director of Schools position. The Haywood County Board of Education met Tuesday night, October 14, and received a final report from Dr. Tammy Grissom, Executive Director of the Tennessee School Boards Association (TSBA). The TSBA was hired by the board to do the preliminary search for the director position, and the board approved the report and recommendations presented by Dr. Grissom. Candidates recommended by the TSBA are Dr. Cedrick Gray, Principal of Lester Demonstration School in Memphis; Dr. Brenda King, Director, Human Resources Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools; Dr. Timothy Setterlund, principal Collierville High School; and Mrs. Doris Battle, Haywood County Interim Director of Schools.

The board also approved a schedule for the interview process that will run from October 27 through October 30. Each candidate will spend the day in Brownsville, touring the schools, meeting with principals and central office staff members, community leaders, faculty and staff members before the interview process begins at 5:45 each evening. Dr. Gray is scheduled for October 27; Dr. King, October 28; Dr. Setterlund, October 29; and Mrs. Battle, October 30. The candidates will also be available to meet the public at 5 p.m. each day until the interview session starts.

Following the interviews, board members set a called meeting on Monday, November 3, at 6 p.m. to consider and discuss each candidate before choosing the top two candidates. The board’s plans are to begin negotiations with their selected candidate on or before December 1, in order to fill the position by their target date of January 1, 2009.

Three schools receive Silver Award

School Board Chairman Harold Garrett announced at the meeting that three Haywood County Schools - Haywood Elementary, East Side and Sunny Hill – have earned Silver Awards from the United States Department of Agriculture for meeting the Healthier US School Challenge. Only 15 awards have been previously given in the nation, and eight of the awards given this year were in Tennessee schools – three of them in Haywood County. Chairman Garrett expressed pride on behalf of the board of this outstanding achievement.

Other business

In other business, board members met in executive session to discuss legal matters, discussed audit findings, and three out-of-state travel requests for the FFA, the Show Choir and the HHS Band at Haywood High. They also discussed and approved the purchase of a printing system at East Side Elementary, approved a list of surplus computers and an increase in travel mileage rate to $.54 which is the rate for the State Guidelines and Procedures they adopted.

The board approved submission of the Haywood County School System/School Compliance Report, and agreed to renew the system’s business trip insurance.

Chairman Garrett announced that the Fall Board Retreat will be held on November 13.

The next school board meeting will be the called meeting on November 3, then the regular monthly meeting will follow on November 11.